Tomorrow Comes Today
by Zelda
Summary: The Gorillaz come to rock out the Pond, but Dragaunus interrupts the show in a big way. Why would he kidnap a band? A Ducks-Gorillaz crossover.
1. Part One

Tomorrow Comes Today

Written by Zelda

Author's Note: You must be living in a cave if you've never heard of the Gorillaz or their hit single "Clint Eastwood". They are currently the world's most successful virtual band, and I say virtual because in front of the dozens of artists that give the four band members life, they're cartoons! Check out their studio and home at www.gorillaz.com, and enjoy some unique music from some unique 'toons. This story is a Ducks/Gorillaz crossover, enjoy the weirdness!

                Duke frowned slightly as he stood near a poster on the Pond wall, freshly put up by one of their advertising company employees earlier that morning. "Who are these guys? They just look like a bunch of comic book characters."

                "Dude, you've never heard of these guys?" Nosedive asked. "I am so thrilled they're dropping by the Pond."

                "The Gorillaz…" Duke read with a puzzled look. "What's the 'z' on the end for, they a rap group?"

                "Not really." Nosedive said. "It's like a whole buncha music blended together! It's weird, but neat!"

                "Yeah, like those blended shakes you make?" Duke smirked. "I don't wanna explain to you again how sardines and yogurt don't go together..."

                "Don't hold down my culinary creations, man!" Dive jested back, and then pointed at the poster as he read from it. "'Laugh now but the future belongs to them'… and people like me!"

                "Ahh, youth." Duke chuckled. "Well, I'm laughing while I can. These guys do look weird, never really been into the whole concert thing."

                "Shame shame, you're missing out!" Nosedive wagged a finger at him.

                Smiling, Duke turned and walked off, leaving Nosedive looking over the posters as he headed back for his bunk. Having concerts roll through wasn't uncommon, after all theirs was a fully-functioning arena. The Los Angeles Clippers played here during the offseason, they hosted conventions, and concerts packed the building on an almost weekly basis. Phil made sure the place was always playing home to some sort of event. But Duke had never really taken an interest in any of that stuff. He was a hockey player, not a music junkie like Nosedive. Still, things had been a little boring around here lately. They had had an unusually long break in the game schedule, and even practice was turning a little dull. Maybe he would take in a concert with the kid, although the thought of spending an evening with hundreds of screaming teenagers was already giving him a headache. Then again, he did that every time they played a game anyway! Still thinking, he continued on his way.

                "Hey guys?" Tanya leaned back from Drake 1's console. "There's a big white van that just pulled up in the parking lot… yeesh what bad driving!"

                "A white van?" Wildwing looked over from reading a paper. "That's odd, I wonder who that could be."

                Tanya tapped a few keys and brought up an image from one of their security cameras on Drake 1's huge screen. The driver's side door to the van swung open, and a skinny, unkempt-looking man in a black shirt stumbled out and sat on the ground. He started banging on the side of the van, shouting something to whoever was left inside. "Eww, who is that?" she looked over at Wildwing, who shrugged back.

                "Maybe they're lost?" he suggested. 

                As he spoke, one of the many doors to the Ready Room hissed open, and Zelda clipped in. She glanced up at the big screen, and then beamed. "Hey, why didn't you tell me they were here!"

                "That ugly guy?" Tanya gestured. "What do you want with him?"

                "Them." Zelda corrected with a light smile. "You're looking at Mr. Murdoc Niccals, he's the leader of the band that's playing tonight!" As the other two Ducks took a second glance at the skinny man, Zelda opened her com. "Dive, heads up, the band's here!"

                "Coolella, I can't wait to meet these guys! Race you out to the lot!"

                "Oooh, I'll get there first, you know it!" Zelda sneered, and with that, quickly shut her com and started out again. "Don't worry about the tour guys, Dive and I will take care of these four!"

                "There are four of them?" Wildwing asked as she left, watching the screen. "Wonderful. Just the type I need Dive hanging out with…"

                "Get yer bloody arses outta the van!" Murdoc pounded the side again, the pain in his fist not being enough to overcome the alcoholic semi-haze that he was currently in. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and sucked on it as he searched for a lighter. "2-D, stop combin' your hair and get out here!" he rasped, his English accent thick.

                "I'm right here, Murdoc." a far gentler voice replied, as the passenger door shut. "No need to shout." The man that rounded over to Murdoc's side of the van was a little taller and skinnier, with bluish-purple hair and hollow black eyes. Although his accent was the same, his handsome, distant look was quite in contrast to the ragged, unkempt appearance of the bassist that sat on the ground beside him.

                "Like hell I don't, t' get anything through to ya with your eternal migraine, you face-ache." Murdoc growled back.

                "Stop it Murdoc, will ya?" another deep voice rumbled from the back of the van, as the back door swung open. "You'll wake Noodle up." 

                "Yeah, I'm kinda surprised that she could sleep through th' drive." 2-D commented. 

                "Hehehh." Murdoc let out a characteristic low cackle. "Got us here in record time, I did, and without the cops catchin' on too!"

                The van rocked as a large weight left the back, and a heavyset man folded his arms as he emerged. "You better not be startin' trouble out here Murdoc." he warned. "The states ain't like it was back in England, not by far. You gotta watch you back out here."

                "Because this is the bloody hood, is it Russel?" Murdoc rolled his eyes.

                The heavyset man came out from behind the van and walked up, frowning to Murdoc, and adjusting a yellow and white baseball cap to shade his bone white eyes. "Hey, you watch it." he spoke lowly. "The hood's what killed my boys, you dig? This may not be New York City, but the west coast and the gang war they brought started it."

                "Right." Murdoc sighed as he pushed himself to standing. "Just wake Noodle up and get her out here? We've still got to unpack…"

                Stretching a little as Murdoc went towards the back of the van, 2-D looked around the empty parking lot and yawned. The humidity wasn't helping his terrible headache. As he reached into his pocket for a few painkillers, he spotted the doors to the Pond opening, and two figures coming out. "Looks like we got visitors already." he started.

                "Wonderful." Murdoc growled from inside the van. "We come t' bloody Disneyland for a gig…"

                "Hey!" Nosedive yelled, waving to them as he approached. "Welcome guys!"

                Through a back window, Russel looked out to see Nosedive and Zelda both approaching the van. He blinked and then reached over into the back seat to gently shake the shoulder of a sleeping ten year old girl. Russel had sat in the back, with a good deal of the band's equipment, so that she could stretch out and have some room. With some coaxing, the girl yawned, stretched, and sat up. 

                "Russel-san?" she blinked.

                "We're here Noodle." he explained.

                The girl took one look out of the window and spotted the approaching Ducks, then she beamed and clapped an odd-looking MP3 player hat onto her head, leaping over the backseat and out of the van. Within a few footsteps, she had ran and sprung up into the arms of a very surprised Nosedive. 

                "What the---?" he stuttered.

                "Nosedive-san!" the girl cheered, and hugged him. 

                "Whoa, so you're Noodle!" he grinned back at her. 

                Russel emerged from the van and folded his arms, smiling a bit. "She's taken a liking to you already, heh. You have no idea how excited da girl's been to get here."

                "So you're a Duck fan too?" Nosedive asked the young Noodle.

                She responded in a stream of overexcited Japanese that left the Duck scratching his head.

                Coming up behind him, Zelda laughed. "She's a big Ducks fan!" 

                Nosedive put Noodle down and approached the other three members of the band. "Dude, you have no idea how awesome it is to have you guys playin' here tonight. I'm a big fan, my name's Nosedive."

                "Ta very much, nice to meet you." 2-D waved as he came back around to the other side of the van.

                "Yeah man, thanks for the warm welcome." Russel nodded.

                "Brilliant." Murdoc growled, still  inside the van. "You wouldn't happen to have a pack of Yankee Teamsters around to move our gear, would you now?"

                "Well, you're kinda early." Nosedive explained. "Our regular concert crew won't show up for a few hours more. But Zelda and I could help out, if that's any good." 

                "Zelda-san!" Noodle responded by wrapping her arms around the laughing dragon's neck.

                Murdoc leaned out of the back to glance at the pair, looking amused for a moment. "A feathered and a scaled pack mule, brilliant." he sneered. "Let's all get to work then, I wanna find a good liquor store around here before the show."

                "Murdoc, you have really got to stop de drinkin' before our gigs." Russel shook his head.

                "Do I tell you how to drum, Russ?" Murdoc asked.

                "All the time." he grumbled.

                "It's _my_ band, and that's _my_ job!" Murdoc jabbed a thumb into his chest. "So you leave the big decisions to me." 

                "Whatever dawg." Russel shrugged. "Here, I ain't even touchin' yer grubby bass." 

                Murdoc caught his beloved guitar as Russel tossed it to him, and slung it over his shoulder.  "Right then, let's get started."

                Mallory yawned and watched Drake 1's big screen, tuned in to one of the Pond's security camera feeds. She watched as people assembled a giant stage like little ants on the arena floor of the Pond. In just a few hours, the building would be full of people, and pulsing with loud music. She could already tell there was no way she'd be getting to bed early tonight. But then again, why would she want to? The Ducks pretty much owned the building, they could get the best seat in the house that hadn't already been sold out. And if things were too crowded upstairs, they could watch a private screening here from Drake 1. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted, by a loud beeping sound coming from the console.

                "Uh oh…" Mallory knew exactly what that meant. A button on one of the keypads was blinking red, and she pressed it to bring up another screen. Staring at a large schematic map of Anaheim, she raised the lid of her com. "Wildwing?" she asked.

                "I'm here Mallory." he responded. "There's an alarm from Drake 1, are you up there?"

                "Yeah, there's alarms going off in a hotel in downtown L.A., reports of some kind of security problem."

                The com channel was silent for a brief moment. "Why the alarm then, if it's just a break-in at a hotel?"

                "Because it's a break-in with teleportation energy." she replied. 

                "Never a day off, is there?" he sighed. "Alright, I'll contact everyone else, pull Dive and Zelda away from the band upstairs. Get to the hangar and start loading some weapons, will you? With the stadium floor set up, we'll have to take the Migrator."

                "Roger that one." Mallory nodded sharply. "I'll meet you and the others down there."

                Nosedive nearly clapped his com lid shut in his brother's mid-sentence, not wanting to hear the rest of the bad news. "Aww, I don't believe it!" he grumbled.

                "Come on Dive, you heard him, we need to meet up with the others ASAP." Zelda hopped down from one of the lighting rigs. "Let's go!"

                "Go?" 2-D placed a keyboard on its proper stand. "Go where?"

                "We're just checking out a possible situation." Zelda looked over to him. "Got a break in at the La Casa hotel up in L.A."

                "Nani? La Casa?" Noodle repeated, sticking her head up from behind an assortment of guitars.

                "That's the hotel we're stayin' in." Russel sighed. "Brothers always gotta be makin' trouble…"

                "Hey, chill out you guys, we'll handle things." Nosedive waved. "You'll still be able to stay there tonight!"

                "We'd better." Murdoc grumbled from behind an amplifier, sweeping his black bangs out of his eyes. "I hate crossin' the pond here for gigs, I'm tellin' ya, I shoulda brought my good ol' Winne with me…"

                "Your Winnebago?" 2-D looked back. "But that one can't float Murdoc, how would you have gotten it over?"

                "In a bloody cargo plane or something!" Murdoc snorted. "Go take some more pills, Stu-Pot you muppet, I think you're slowly losing consciousness again." 

                2-D rolled his eyes and went back to tooling with the keyboard, while Noodle approached Zelda and started something in Japanese.

                Nosedive was distracted as his com beeped again, and he popped it open. "Yeah?"

                Mallory was frowning back at him. "What's keeping you two? We're waiting!"

                Murdoc stood over Nosedive's shoulder, and regarded the com with a devil-may-care glance. But he quickly did a double-take upon seeing Mallory. "Oi." he broke into a sly grin. "I didn't know you had ladies in yer flock…" He let out a light cackle and waved cutely with his fingertips. "'Allo darlin'."

                "Ugh, do yourselves a favor and get a restraining order against him now, before you really need it." Russel sighed, standing up and walking over from his drums, offering Nosedive and Zelda an apologetic half-smile. He then quickly turned and elbowed the bassist in the ribs. "You're sick  man." he hissed. "Don't you have any kinda focus? They ain't even human!"

                "Can't be picky now, Yankee." Murdoc sneered, and stalked off towards a stack of amps.

                "Gotta jet guys, but we'll be back to help you out!" Nosedive closed his com.

                "Yes, we'll be back before the show." Zelda smiled. "Don't you worry about us! Come on Dive." She tugged at him, and the dragon and duck were off running towards one of the exits to the arena. 

                After they had disappeared from sight, Russel calmly tapped at one of his drum cymbals, sitting back at his set. "Odd bunch, aren't they?"

                The Migrator screeched up into the parking lot of the hotel to find several windows broken on an upper floor.

                "Guess that's where they are!" Nosedive pointed, jumping out of the side hatch. A couch went hurtling through another window, and landed uncomfortably close to the Ducks and the Migrator. "Heh, and they're redecorating too!" 

                "Why would they be ransacking a hotel?" Duke frowned.

                "Doesn't matter at the moment." Wildwing loaded some extra pucks into his arm launcher. "Our number one priority is stopping them."

                "What are we waiting for, then?" Mallory was already running for the door to the hotel. "Let's go!"

                "Good idea, Zelda, fly up to those windows and wait until you hear us up there, we'll run a sneak attack!"

                As the dragon nodded and shot into the air, the team charged after Mallory into the hotel, past screaming tourists who were streaming out through the hotel's lobby. The Ducks raced up the stairs to the hotel's fifth floor, the highest the building went. They all had to scrunch into the relatively narrow hallways, drawing their weapons as they neared a set of doors that were obviously busted in. 

                "Split up!" Wildwing hissed. "Don't start the charge until I give the signal!"

                He and Mallory halted just before the first door, as Nosedive and Duke ducked across and halted at the second, Tanya at the third, and Grin stopping at the fourth.

                "NOW!" Wildwing yelled, and all of the Ducks simultaneously threw themselves in the doorways, launchers out and ready to hit anything that moved.

                "Reach for the sky, lizards!" Mallory seconded him. 

                From the view into his room, Nosedive saw Chameleon's head pop up from behind a bed, under which he'd been rummaging around.

                "Aww man, not dem again? Can't you let us do a little looting and pillaging in PEACE these days?!"

                "You'd better leave while you still can!" Nosedive laughed at him. "Cause I could turn you into one ugly suitcase cover."

                "I think he'd make better wallpaper." Duke chuckled, drawing his sabre and advancing on the surprised Saurian as he backed towards the window.

                "Really?" Zelda swooped by the broken window, close enough to snap at the back of the lizard's neck. "He'd be best as an appetizer!"

                "Oooh…" Chameleon seethed and frowned. "Try eating this!" he grabbed his blaster out of its holster on his hip, but couldn't get it more than a few feet in the air before it was sliced in half by Duke's sabre.

                "Better call it a day, skinny." the Duck advised, proceeding to line the blade up with Chameleon's neck. 

                "I'd say it's lights out for you, duck." A voice snarled from nowhere. Duke spun around to see a cloud of smoke erupt from the floor, Wraith pulling himself up into existence between he and Nosedive. "Goodnight."

                Duke couldn't bring his sabre around in time to block the fireball that Wraith had ready to throw, but Wraith never got his shot off, thanks to Nosedive and his ready trigger finger. Wraith turtled under the hail of pucks from his two launchers, and retreated further back towards the shattered window. 

                "You two got it from here?" Zelda called, flapping to stay in midair. A chair nearly struck her from a nearby room

                "Go ahead!" Nosedive waved her off. "We can tie these losers up!"

                Zelda veered away by dropping down out of sight, and flapping back up in front of the window which the chair had been hurled at her from. As she expected, Siege was the cause. His huge body took up a good portion of the room, and he was fending the Ducks off by throwing everything he could at them. The dresser, TV, even the beds were overturned. But he was facing away from her, giving her a good shot at striking the only place which had the chance of giving Saurian pause. Snarling loudly, she swooped in through the broken window, and latched her jaws around the back of his neck. 

Siege howled in surprise and pain, dropping the TV that he was holding right on one of his feet. This only caused his howl to reach a higher volume, and he started hopping around with the dragon still attached to his neck. 

"We've got him now!" Mallory sneered. 

"Nail him!" Wildwing ordered, and the three Ducks lit up the room in blue with the flashes of their pucklaunchers.

Bringing his arms up in front of his face to provide some kind of defense for himself, Seige stumbled backward, towards the shattered window. It wasn't long before he was kicking broken glass, unable to fight back against the onslaught of fire. 

The two Ducks were surprised as Siege suddenly toppled backwards, and with the snapping of more glass, fell towards the pavement below with Zelda still on his back!

"Zel!" Mallory ran forward after her, but the dragon swooped right back in through the window, and landed. "Mission accomplished!" She said, licking her teeth. "They teleported out, cowards."

"They're gone bro!" Nosedive celebrated, as he and Duke poked their heads into the room from the door. "Wahoo!"

"Well, we still have a little mystery to solve." Tanya reminded, as she and Grin came into the room as well. "And that's why those Saurians were here in the first place."

"Anyone have any ideas?" Duke asked.

"This may serve as a clue." Tanya dropped a suitcase on one of the beds, which looked like it had been half torn open. There were several stickers in different languages all over it, but most of them were in Japanese. Shuffling loosely through the contents, Tanya frowned slightly. "Stuffed animals, shrimp and rice chips, and lots of MP3 disks. Besides that, it's just clothes and shoes. Why would Dragaunus be after this?"

"Because this…" Zelda frowned, snorting at the suitcase. "Smells like Noodle."

"Hey, didn't they mention this was the hotel that they were staying at?" Nosedive asked.

"Dragaunus must be after the band, or something that the band has." Grin concluded.

"But they're just a band." Mallory shrugged. "Despite the weird attitudes, they're harmless!"

"We'll have to talk to them when we get back." Wildwing nodded. "There's definitely something up here, and whatever the reason, they need to know that they've been targeted like this."

The team all turned to walk out of the now empty hotel, leaving the chaos of the destroyed rooms behind them, and regrouping in the Migrator.

"Hey." Duke started, as Wildwing revved the engine. "If Dragaunus wasn't able to find them here, what makes you think that he won't come after them in the Pond tonight?"

Silence served as his answer.

End of Part One

Mighty Ducks-The Animated Series is property of the Walt Disney company. The Gorillaz are property of Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn, thank ya guys! All other characters are copyright of Zelda and The Dragon's Den.


	2. Part Two

Tomorrow Comes Today

Part Two

Written by Zelda

                "So lemme get this straight." the drummer ran a hand across his shaved scalp and leaned heavily on an amp. "We're being hunted down by an eight foot tall iguana?"

                "Well, it's a little more complicated than that…" Wildwing started in reply.

                "For starters, this iguana has henchmen that would probably eat you for breakfast." Nosedive piped up.

                "Sounds like fun." Murdoc croaked from a distance, still tuning his bass. "Let's feed 'em 2-D, mebbe it's 'im they want."

                "I assure you, you'll get no chance." Wildwing looked over to the bandleader. "If Dragaunus really is after you, then this is the safest place you can be."

                "So…" 2-D started. "Do we 'aveta worry about the concert tonight? Mebbe we should cancel…"

                "Not a chance, Stu-Pot." Murdoc growled. "This is _my_ band, I say we don't stop for nothin'. We play come 'ell or 'igh water, hail Satan."

                "Wonderfully put Muds." Russel grumbled, flopping back on the amp. 

                "We're confident that you'll still be able to do the show." Tanya started. "Our security system has been designed to keep Saurians out of the building. With all of us on full alert, it'll be safe, despite the crowd."

                "Yeah, well, we're 'olding ya to that love." Murdoc turned his glare in her direction. "We don't need bad press about Godzilla interrupting our show."

                Meanwhile, Noodle was pouring over the contents of her half-smashed suitcase, ranting angrily in Japanese. Although nobody else could understand her, Zelda was nearby, replying in a conciliatory tone. 

                "More importantly than the show." Wildwing turned the conversation. "Is the issue of why the Saurians are after you in the first place. If we don't solve that here and now, they'll follow you for the rest of your tour, possibly longer."

                "Lovely." 2-D sighed. "What did we do ta get 'em mad at us?"

                "You mean, you can't think of a reason?" Mallory asked.

                "Dee's right." Russel shrugged. "We've never heard of 'dese Saurians before, dunno why they're givin' us trouble."

                Wildwing glanced at the four band members, sighed, and shook his head. "Well, if they make their move tonight, we'll find out, that's for sure."

                Night descended on Anaheim, and as the sun set, the parking lot to the Pond clogged with cars, trails of fans streaming into the building. With security cranked up to its maximum, each of the Ducks had been assigned particular jobs for the night. Tanya and Duke watched security camera feeds vigilantly from the helm of Drake 1. Mallory was helping the tour and security staff at the Pond's entrances, with the metal detectors. Zelda slunk around the Pond's upper rafters and catwalks, keeping a birds-eye view out for anything suspicious in the balcony level. Nosedive was happy to accept his task of mingling with the crowd in the floor seats. Not only would it give him a direct reaction from the crowd around him if anything went awry, but a front-row view for the show. Grin was stationed backstage like the ultimate bouncer, sticking very close to the band itself as the four readied themselves to go onstage. Wildwing was backstage too, but constantly patrolling the area with his Mask, checking everyone to make sure they were allowed to be there. Despite their level of organization, the concert scene itself was still a mess. With so many people, all in the building to have a good time, there was no way to keep track of them all. 

                At his post outside a main warm-up room, Grin unfolded his arms and looked back as the door creaked open, to find Murdoc sticking his head out. 

                "Wot time is it?" he asked.

                Grin checked his com. "Seven twenty-five, when did you plan to go onstage?"

                "Seven thirty." Murdoc frowned a little. He opened the door wider to turn around, and Grin could hear 2-D's voice croaking from some distant corner. "All of ya get a move on!" he growled. "We're up in five, roight?"

                "We're ready already Muds." Russel gestured to himself and Noodle, rapping his drumsticks together lightly, a slight grin on his face.

                "Oi, me too." 2-D quickly cleared his throat and slugged down a gulp from a water bottle. "We goin'?"

                "That's what I was askin' you, face-ache." Murdoc shook his head. "Alright 'en, let's get this one over with." He led the way out of the room, and started off for the path to the stage. Grin took up the rear of the procession, behind 2-D, and would accompany them all the way to the stage. His job was to stay offstage, his post opposite of Wildwing's for the concert. They'd both leave to do patrols every once and a while. Grin was just hoping that this music wasn't going to give him a headache. The stage neared, he could hear the excited buzz of the crowd just beyond the temporary walls. It was almost a tangible feeling of anticipation, and the buzz rose to a roar as the band emerged before them. With a blinding uproar of lights, they marched out, took up their positions on the stage, and the music began. Grin leaned against a metal support pole and folded his arms, looking out at the crowd and then at the stage before him. Directly across the way, leaning against the opposite pole, he saw Wildwing wave a gloved hand, then give him a thumbs-up. Grin returned the gesture, indicating that everything was going well so far. It was a good sign, but they had hours left to go before the music was over with and the crowd had left the building. It would  be a long, and tense wait.

                The performance was going on just as planned, and their stage act seemed undeterred by the threat that hung over the heads of the band. Zelda had heard much about the Gorillaz' concerts, a band this eclectic usually had a reputation that preceeded itself. Unlike many other groups that opted for elaborate mock-ups, dazzling sets, and complicated choreography, the four musicians let their sound speak for them; their varying and even clashing onstage behavior came naturally. His head buzzing with phantom migraines and the numbing painkillers designed to suppress them, 2D slouched over his microphone stand, looking lonely but uncaring as he stood face-to-face with the screaming crowd. Flanked to his right was the bass demon Murdoc, who busied himself with stalking around the stage, gnashing his green teeth and leering at women in the audience. He flipped his black Fender about in true rock-n'-roll fashion, reveling in being onstage and the insidious power he held over all in attendance. On the opposite side of the stage, little Noodle jumped about like a pogo stick, her broad grinning and headbanging slowing for only a few more contemplative numbers. Every once and a while, the two guitarists would switch places with each other, or step to a mic upstage to add some backup vocals in. Keeping a steady post behind the trio was Russel, seated at his drum set. Though his brow was slightly furrowed as he tapped down his most intricate licks, his white eyes shifted calmly between his bandmates upstage, making sure he kept the three in time through the blur of noise from the crowd. He left a little room for a flip or spin of his drumsticks every now and then. Zelda couldn't help but smile at them, from her perch up in the Pond's rafters. The more she thought about it, the more the band's onstage chemistry seemed very similar to that of a certain hockey team she was a part of. They too had an attentive guard keeping watch over his team from the back of the action. They too had an energetic young prodigy that could barely contain himself with the crowd in his ears. They had a brooding playmaker who liked to do things his way, and keep this secrets to himself. And there was definitely a Duck who followed the principles of Zen and meditation, who looked very simple on the outside but had much more beneath the surface. As quirky a bunch as they were, the band made beautiful music, the likes of which nobody had heard before or had even seen coming! As broad a set of personalities as the Ducks had, they played the best hockey on the planet, and off of it as well. What an unlikely correlation. Zelda's thoughtful reverie had almost caused her to forget about her job for the evening. Almost.  She had to give them an immense amount of credit, going through with the show despite the threat that they were facing just by being here tonight. Zelda knew their music well, and they were performing to the best of their standards, looking carefree as ever and loving the attention from the crowd. Maybe, she thought, they just didn't understand what they were facing. They just didn't know how dangerous Dragaunus was, and she hoped they never would know. If he was really targeting the band, he'd pursue them beyond Anaheim's borders. What were they going to do about that? Shaking her head for a moment to clear her mind, she turned around on the catwalk and doubled back, eyes scanning the opposite flank of the stadium's balcony. Unlike the setting for a normal game, only three-fourths of the seating was being used, so that everyone could see the stage. The ice and boards were gone, and people crowded in mosh pits across the cement floor. The huge florescent lights that hung from the ceiling around her were all turned off, the whole stadium dark save for the explosion of colored lights focused on the stage itself. Her ability to see well in the dark was certainly coming in handy now. And so far, there had been nothing to see. Mallory and the security crew had done a great job at the door, nothing had caught  her suspicion as of yet. But this was merely the beginning, they weren't even through the first set yet. The team had a long night ahead of them, that was for sure. At least the music was good!

                "Alright boys, that's it, show started half an hour ago, nobody else gets in!" Mallory commanded the security crew with a wave to shut the doors to newcomers for the evening. Behind her on a table sat a pile of contraband, sniffed out by the metal detectors and the experienced crew. Packs of cigarettes, lighters, and a few pocketknives were part of the intake. Someone had even been so foolish as to bring a six-pack of beer. Mallory frowned at that one in particular and turned away from the table, picking up a box to put all of the stuff in. 

                "Doors are all locked Ms. McMallard." one of the men started, coming up behind her. "People can leave whenever they want, they won't get back in."

                "Great job, all of you. Go ahead and take a break, I'll need you back in an hour though." she nodded.

                The man waved and turned, starting off for some of the food vendors in their respective area of the concourse.

                Mallory filled the box and taped it shut, locking it and the now-folded table in a utility closet. She leaned back against one of the doors, and was thinking about getting a bite to eat herself, when her com beeped. She flipped it up to hear a scratchy onslaught of noise, and grimaced. "Wildwing?"

                "It's me." he answered, barely audible. "Everything going okay?"

                "Just finished closing up." she nodded. "Netted a lot of stuff."

                "Good." Wildwing nodded. "Better to catch it at the door than in here. I'll need you to watch over the main stadium entrances on the floor level now, Duke's coming up to join you."

                "I'll meet him there." Mallory paused for a moment and grinned, listening. "Enjoying the show?"

                "A little loud for my taste." he admitted with a smile. 

                "Yeah, well _somebody_ who _does_ like this music better appreciate the fact that he's on the floor tonight." Mallory joked. "Over and out."

                The last guitar chords and bass reverberations died slowly as the stage darkened for the final time that night. With a roar of appreciation for the encore, the audience started to organize themselves and head for the stadium exits in just as chaotic a mass as they came. T-shirt and food vendors readied themselves for the rush, and Duke and Mallory had taken up positions by the two main archway exits.

                "Here they come, sweetheart." Duke smirked to Mallory over his com.

                "Why do I have the feeling like I'm standing in front of a herd of stampeding cattle?" she sighed in return.

                "Probably because you are, metaphorically speaking." Zelda joined in the conversation. "I'll be out to circle the parking lot as soon as everyone's off the balcony level."

                "Good idea." Wildwing chimed in as well. "I'm keeping Grin with the band, and I'll stay backstage. Tanya's still with Drake 1, she'll give us a heads-up if something goes wrong. Dive's gonna clear out the floor level."

                "Sounds good to me." Mallory nodded, watching as the first wave of spectators were noisily heading for her. "Let's move 'em out."

                "Whew, well, that wasn't so bad, wos it Muds?" 2-D asked, his voice scratchy and raw from the night's singing.

                "Not at all, actually." Murdoc carefully stowed his bass in a protective shell case. "Nice ta know America's got a decent taste for rock, eh?"

                Noodle chattered something happily in reply, hugging her own guitar.

                "Well, I think she had a good night." Russel smirked, sitting back in a dressing room chair. 

                "So wot now, go out and celebrate? We had a blasted good show tonight." Murdoc nodded.

                "I would advise against that." Grin broke in, from where he was standing by the door. "It would be quite risky to go out late at night, like this."

                "Wot, we gotta be 'ostages because that… thing is still out 'unting us?"

                "It is best to be cautious in a situation like this." Grin nodded.

                "To 'ell with caution." Murdoc narrowed his eyes slightly. "Wot do you want, us to stay in this hockey rink all night?"

                Here, Grin hesitated. He knew that the band simply didn't understand what it meant to be the target of someone like Dragaunus. But it was unreasonable to hold them here, they really didn't have a place for them to stay anyway. "I believe we must calm ourselves." Grin concluded. "We cannot think clearly at the moment, and I believe we must help pack up your equipment before you could leave anyway."

                "He's got a point Muds." 2-D croaked.

                Murdoc grumbled, but hung his head. "Awright, well then let's git a move on."

                Noodle trotted over and patted Grin on the hand as a gesture of appreciation. "Arigato, Grin-san!" she smirked, before bouncing back to her own dressing room table and starting to brush her hair out. 

                Grin smiled slightly back at the young girl, amazed that such a picture of innocence and spirit could exist among such seemingly grating characters as the rest of the band. But his thoughts were interrupted as Wildwing peeked in through the door, and then walked up behind him.

                "Well, that's it, everyone's out of the building, and we didn't have so much as a false alarm tonight."

                "Bloody good." Murdoc nodded. "As it well should be."

                "We go'ta thank ya." 2-D started, gulping down a slug from his water bottle. "Who knows what woulda happened if we were in another stadium, left security ta someon' else?"

                "The danger's far from over, I'm afraid to say."

                "Wot's this?" Murdoc frowned. "Ain't you guys supposed to fight the bad guys? Yer just gonna wait for the lizard to show up and then do something about it? What kinda crimefighters are you guys?"

                "The kind who do what they can." Wildwing sighed. "Trust me, we've been on Dragaunus's tail for years, it's very frustrating. If we could locate him and just take him out, we would have done it a long time ago."

                "Hey, chill out Muds." Russel grumbled. "This situation's outta our hands, dig? I just wanna know what we have to do in order to keep ourselves safe for the rest of the tour."

                Wildwing nodded understandingly. "I've been discussing several options with the rest of my team. Unfortunately, the quickest way out of this situation may be to coax Dragaunus into a battle, to draw him out."

                "Draw him out?" Russel repeated, raising arching a brow above a milky eye. "What's that mean?"

                "Well, we essentially use you as bait. You're safe here in the Pond, but if we take you somewhere else, Dragaunus is likely to attack, especially if he believes that you're not under our supervision anymore. If we can head him off there, he won't bother you again."

                "I still say we should feed 'em 2-D." Murdoc commented dryly, throwing his things into a black duffel bag.

                Noodle seemed very excited by the prospect, jabbering in Japanese and striking karate poses in her corner of the room, nearly knocking over a few instruments.

                "You'll do no such thing!" Zelda chided, her voice wafting in from the hall a few moments before she poked her head into the room, and added something in Japanese, in a stern reply. 

                Noodle's face fell for a few moments, and she was content to sink back against the wall and sulk.

                "None of you really realize the danger that this situation presents us." Zelda hopped up on Wildwing's shoulder to address the band in general. "It wouldn't be as bad if Dragaunus were just after us, that's the norm. But for some reason, he's targeted you, and that makes him unpredictable."

                "… I say we go for it, Muds." 2-D spoke up, looking back and the preoccupied bassist. "I mean, these guys look like 'ey know what's what. Can't be to bad, eh?"

                Murdoc stood up for a moment and looked at all of them. "Awright, well that's one karate kid and the Muppet in, whatta you think Russ?"

                Russel nodded. "I agree too, let's get these guys off our backs. Democracy rules, man."

                "Democracy my arse." Murdoc growled, the upside-down cross that hung from his neck shaking a little as he grunted. "This is _my_ band, I call the shots. But in this case, I say we bloody well get this over with."

                Wildwing gave a decisive nod. "If we have our way and things go according to plan, none of you will be in harm's way. You won't even see any of the Saurians for very long. We've got some contingency plans already cooked up, ones we use ourselves all the time. So whenever you're good and ready, we'll go over them."

                The band members gave solemn nods, save for Murdoc, who jabbed his singer with an elbow. 

                "Git ready to be iguana-chow, Muppet." he sneered.

To be continued…

Mighty Ducks-The Animated Series is property of the Walt Disney company. The Gorillaz are property of Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn, thank ya guys! All other characters are copyright of Zelda and The Dragon's Den.


	3. Part Three

Tomorrow Comes Today

Part 3

Written by Zelda

                "Not bad." Duke nodded, rubbing his bill. "A signing does sound pretty normal to me."

                "You guys used to doing this?" Russel quirked one of his brows. The team seemed pretty at-ease to him, as the whole group of them was assembled with his band in one of the Pond's entrance foyers. 

                "You kiddin'?" Nosedive rolled his eyes. "Our manager books us for these deals too often. I gotta wear a wrist brace after an hour!"

                "Whiner." Mallory scoffed. "Tactically, it's nothing out of the ordinary. We have autograph signings in the middle of the Anaheim Mall complex all the time. So to the Saurians, I don't think like it would seem we were springing a trap, if you were to have a signing there."

                "Doesn't sound too bad." 2-D nodded. "If 'ats the case."

                "And we might jus' make a little money selling some more CDs while we're at it." Murdoc sneered. 

                "Best of all." Wildwing started. "You're as close as can be to the Pond. In case anything should go wrong, we can usher you right back here. As soon as you're inside, you're perfectly safe."

                Noodle tugged on the big Duck's arm, and started jabbering, a frown on her face.

                Zelda appeared surprised. "You know about that?" she cocked her head. Looking up, she translated for the others. "She reads her news, the girl knows about the few break-ins we've had."

                "Perfectly safe, eh?" Murdoc put his hands on his hips.

                "You wanna go this alone, Muds?" Russel frowned at him. The frown turned into a quirked smile as his bandleader made no response.

                "It's settled then." Wildwing nodded. "The mall's expecting you in an hour or so, they'll have a setup and security, but nothing big. We'll be completely out of sight, but we'll be around. If trouble does come up, all you guys have to remember to do is stick together."

                Noodle sighed and sat back, rubbing her hand and muttering something in a complaining tone.

                "I know girl, I know." Russel patted her back, smiling a little. 

                "Quit yer whinin'." Murdoc grinned toothily at them. "We ain't never too busy for our adoring public." He turned back to finish autographing a picture of himself, handing it to a blonde woman that was standing nearby. "A li'l something ta remember me, eh sweetheart?" he purred.

                The lady wrinkled her nose and replied by smacking the bassist across the face.

                The three other band members, sitting at their autograph tables, burst out into laughter as Murdoc retreated to his chair, a red mark on his cheek. 

                With a loud growl, he raised a hand and balled his fist at 2-D, who was sitting closest to him. Instantly the singer recoiled so violently that he fell over into Russel, and Murdoc calmed himself, cackling. 

                Russel pushed 2D back up into his own chair, and grumbled, twisting his wrist around before signing a poster. "You wanna keep things on the downlow Muds? We are supposed to be acting normal."

                "Seems pretty normal ta me." he grinned, leaning an elbow heavily on the table before turning to the next person on line. This one was even prettier than the last one!

                "How rude that girl was." the fan cooed to him, leaning over to ruffle his oily black bangs. "I could never to such a thing to my favorite bassist!"

                "Well." Murdoc smiled. "Ain't you a sweet 'un?" He took her hand in his and went to kiss it in a gentlemanly manner, when he started, seeing that her hand actually had ugly greenish-brown liver spots on it.

                "Aww, now don't insult a lady's looks!" she pulled her hand away with a frump. "After all, we are your biggest fans!"

                "We?" Murdoc recovered, beaming again. "Maybe some of you and your fellow fans would like to see my hotel room…"

                "Oh, been there and done that one, honey." the woman sassed him by wagging a finger. 

                "Huh?" Murdoc frowned. He stood with surprise as the woman took a few paces back, grinning like a hyena. A green light erupted around her, and she started to change, shrinking in size and fattening out in shape. When the light faded, the beautiful girl had been replaced by a hideously ugly sort of bipedal gecko!

                "Of course, had we been the only uninvited guests, we could have gotten to know you fellas so much better." the lizard laughed. It raised an orange band around its wrist, and yelled into it. 

At the same time, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar form spring up from behind a large plant pot. Wildwing was also yelling something into his wrist, hopefully calling his team out into action against this – thing! But Murdoc looked back to where the lizard had been standing before, to find that there was not just one, but an entire army of them! Looking like crazy robots in red and silver, they had appeared out of nowhere! People screamed and scattered in all directions, knocking over the tables where the band had been sitting, and spilling CDs all over the ground.

"Wot in tha---?" he heard 2-D stutter, backing clumsily away.

"Ohhh no you don't." The green lizard grinned, taking a blaster gun out of its hip holster, and polishing the muzzle. "You ain't goin' nowhere!" He switched his gaze over to Noodle, who was babbling something or other, clinging to Russel's arm. Somewhere, mentions of Godzilla came up in her rant. In reply, the lizard's face twisted into a greenish mold of Robert DiNiero. "You scared girl?" he sneered. "A lil' bit?"

The four bandmates got distracted as a few explosions went up in the distance, the shredded remains of robot drones scattering at their feet.

"Put the blaster down and back away, Chameleon!" A female voice barked through the smoke. Murdoc squinted against the acrid smoke, hoping to Satan that this wasn't someone else looking to kill them.

Mallory emerged from the charred shrapnel, a puck cannon pointed right at Chameleon's gruesome face. 

"That's it pal, hands up, nice and easy." Duke seconded her order, coming through the smoke on the lizard's other side. 

Mallory frowned slightly, looking at the positioning of the two of them, and Chameleon. There needed to be a third in front of the band, to shield them, or to pin Chameleon in. Where was Wildwing? A few more resounding explosions told her that he was part of the fighting already. So who was supposed to get the band out of here? Things had happened so quickly, she hadn't caught all of Wildwing's orders. Those Saurians still knew how to pull a few surprises on them. But her objective was containing Chameleon now. She glanced over to Duke, who met her eyes across from her, and nodded. 

He drew his sabre, and waited for the lizard to make a move.

"Ey, are you threatenin' me?" Chameleon splayed his fingers on his chest, offended and still continuing his impression.

"What if we are?" Mallory growled. "Care to settle it with us instead of innocent people?"

"You guys don't know the half of what's goin' on here." Chameleon grinned nonchalantly. "I'd run now, before things start blowin' up like 'The Godfather'."

"The only one who's endin' up in ashes is you, buddy." Duke shook his head.

Out of the corner of Mallory's eye, there was movement. She glanced over just momentarily to see the four members of the band moving away, towards a beckoning hand. Grin was in the distance, gesturing the band back behind a concrete wall. He'd be the one to take them back to safety in the Pond! With a light breath of relief, Mallory turned back to Chameleon, hoping that he hadn't noticed the retreat of the band. Fortunately, he was in a shouting match with a rather amused Duke. As long as Duke could supply the insults, she could certainly supply the force to back it up. She kept her puck cannon locked on the lizard, and waited for her shot.

Zelda soared high over the fight, circling the mall pavilion where everything had broken out. How could they not have seen Chameleon coming? And where were the other henchmen? After all of their battles, Zelda knew they had to be hiding out somewhere, waiting to pounce one someone who strayed from the pack. It was her job to keep a perspective on the moving battle, with her bird's-eye view. In reality, she felt more like a living traffic helicopter, fuming over her inability to join in the gridlock.

"Other two appeared yet?" Wildwing's voice crackled over her com.

"That's a negative." she responded quickly. "But there here, they're waiting…"

"I'm sure they have something planned. Grin's escorting the band back to the Pond, we're closing down the perimeter. Still just Duke and Mallory in the fight?"

"They're holding Chameleon off." Zelda nodded. "How far until we're locked down?"

"Not far, from Grin's signal. I want to be sure that things quiet down here before I send you guys back. So stay right overhead, got it?"

"Ready to engage on orders." Zelda spoke, and soared higher to get a better perspective. This whole situation had been executed like clockwork. The Ducks knew just how to act once the Saurians had triggered their attack. Deep in a corner of her mind, Zelda couldn't help but be proud. They had structured everything like some clean, well-practiced hockey play. Fights had become so calculated as of late that it was more like a chess match. It would help, however, to see the other side of the board. The one thing that separated the Ducks from the Saurians was the lizards' element of surprise. They always managed to pull something out that defied any element of strategy. And Zelda's foremost thoughts were on when that trump card was going to rear its ugly head. Her stomach dropped suddenly, a feeling that she had grown to loathe far more than physical pain. Spinning in mid-air, the dragon's eyes darted around for the source of trouble. More hunter drones had appeared to back Chameleon up! She watched as Mallory and Duke shifted their attention to destroying them, as Wildwing ran out from behind a bench to help them. Chameleon was scrambling off away from the Pond, with the three Ducks hot on his heels. But that wasn't the source of the trouble, not at all! Letting out a high-pitched whistling cry as a warning signal, she pinwheeled and spun away from the fight, and back towards the Pond. In the parking lot, mere feet from the Pond's door, a cloud of purplish-gray smoke was swirling furiously. Zelda could see Nosedive and Tanya running in from either side of the lot, also realizing that trouble had befallen Grin and the band he was guarding. But they were many, many yards away, and wouldn't reach the fight half as fast as she could on the wing. With a roar, the dragon plummeted from the sky, opening her wings fully to swoop down and dive-bomb through the smoke. She didn't impact anyone or anything, but when she pulled in a breath, something made her gag as her muscles suddenly felt like they had turned into wet noodles. She came tumbling from the other side of the gas cloud, nearly spilling out onto the pavement.

"Zelda!!" Nosedive called out, alarmed. "What's going on?!"

"Careful of the gas!" Tanya called, realizing by then what it could do to those who breathed it. "Where's the band?"

Zelda shook her head, eyes wide as she tottered to her feet again. Her vision was blurred and the sound of her own blood was rushing in her ears. Knockout gas, powerful enough to affect her with a single lungful, swirled behind her. Zelda took in a deep breath of fresh air and plunged into the vapor again, trying to see through it. She ran in widening circles, not running into anything. Growing desperate, she reared and started flapping her wings, hearing encouragement from her teammates beyond the fading cloud. Out of the shadows of the purple smoke, something appeared close to the ground. Letting out a little air in another warning whistle, the dragon loped over quickly, nearly tripping over the form. It was Grin, lying on his stomach. And he was still moving. Zelda reared and started flapping again, the gas finally dissipating and moving away on the breeze. When Tanya and Nosedive moved in, the dragon dared to breathe again.

"Grin! Aww man, he musta been caught in that gas!"

"He's still conscious…" Tanya knelt down and felt his pulse quickly. 

The big Duck was turned onto his side, protesting weakly. His eyes were rolling back into his head, his limbs going slack.

"Stay with us Grin…" Zelda whispered, nuzzling his shoulder with worried eyes.

"But where's the band?!" Nosedive was on his feet again, looking frantically around. "They're gonna kill us---"

"If the Saurians don't first." Tanya sighed. "That gas was from Wraith, I'll bet. They took the band hostage."

Nosedive was busy waving to the remaining three Ducks as they came charging back across the parking lot, hastened by seeing Grin lying on the pavement.

"What happened?!" Wildwing called, the moment that he was in earshot. "When did they strike?"

"Nosedive and I didn't even see it! We just saw this big cloud burst out, and then Zelda came in…" Tanya started.

"…I didn't see it either." the dragon shook her head, still woozy from the gas and sticking very close to Grin.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Mallory asked.

"Given time, yes." Tanya nodded. "That gas was potent, it nearly took Zel out in one breath. Grin's bigger, so it's taking longer to work its way through his system." 

                Duke ran his hand through his forelock of hair in frustration. "I can't believe they surprised us like that! Now that entire band got captured!"

                "I still don't get why they would be targets for Dragaunus." Nosedive sighed. "Why would he want them?"

                "First thing's first, let's get Grin down the infirmary." Wildwing pointed into the Pond. "Then we're going on a snake-hunt."

                The team, down by one, waited beside Drake 1's massive console as the supercomputer scanned for the familiar frequencies of a cloaked Saurian warship.

                "He's gone outside of the city limits." Wildwing muttered, tapping at a keyboard. "Knows it'll take longer to scan out there…"

                "Like a leopard running up a tree with its kill." Zelda growled.

                "More or less." Wildwing sighed. "But now that we have some time, we can start cracking the mystery of why the Gorillaz were at the top of Draggy's hit list."

                "You've got me there Bro." Nosedive shrugged. "I went through all of their equipment while you guys were in the infirmary. I didn't see anything unusual---" Here, he stopped and shuddered. The band members were certainly some unusual people. "—Well, I didn't see anything that might catch the eye of a world-domination-bent lizard."

                "Maybe he wants publicity?" Duke asked. "Those guys are a pretty big band. What's going to happen when they don't make their next gig?"

                "I disagree." Mallory shook her head. "Dragaunus has never openly advertised unless he was sure of unleashing some doomsday weapon or something. Remember that time with the hover platform? That's the only time he's really announced his presence to people."

                "I see where you're going." Tanya nodded. "Dragaunus wouldn't want to do anything high-profile unless he was sure the humans couldn't stop him… Which doesn't make me feel a whole lot better about this situation." her confident look withered.

"Well, this is a fine mess we're in." Wildwing shook his head. "But those four humans are our responsibility. We're getting them out of this, no matter what."

"We're getting out of this, no matter what." Murdoc growled savagely. "I don't care what the 'ell they are!"

"Wake up Murdoc." Russel grumbled. "Take a look around us. We ain't goin' nowhere."

The four bandmates were locked in the cramped quarters of one of the Raptor's brig cells. Huddled along the back wall and corners, they were all cringing at the stench and filth of the place. 2D cowered visibly, nearly shaking as he sat with his back pressed to the wall, centered in the cell. Murdoc lay tangled in a corner, limbs akimbo, fists clenching and unclenching in anger. Russel tucked himself into the opposite corner, Noodle sticking close by his side. 

"So wot?" Murdoc shrugged. "What do they want with us anyway? I bet they'll let us go."

Noodle turned to him and shook her head emphatically, letting out a matter-of-fact sounding string of Japanese.

"Think she said somethin' about those lizards." Russel blinked at her, trying to understand. "I don't like this."

"You'll like it even less, when we're through." a voice sounded from down the hall. It was deep and had a strong, sharp tone. Noodle instantly clung onto Russel's arm. Into the window of the cell came stalking a monster, eight feet high and weighing in at six hundred pounds. It was a mass of bristling scales and body armor, topped with a regally crested head.

"Who the 'ell are you?" Murdoc snapped, rising up to squat on the balls of his feet. "And wot do you think yer doin' with my band?!"

The lizard chuckled and shook his head at the man. "You want to know who I am? I…" he replied, leaning closer to the bars and filling the cell with the stench of his rotten breath. "… am your Overlord. I am Dragaunus, and I will be the last thing you see before you die."

2D was shaking like a leaf, Noodle was burying herself into Russel. But Murdoc spat loudly and swung to his feet. "You got a lotta nerve kidnappin' us, you do. Cut the act, step outta 'at ugly monster suit and let us go."

With his scaly lips twitching up into a grin, the Overlord raised his right wrist, and shot a laser blast that seared through the bassist's shoulder.  
                Murdoc cried in shock and fell back against the wall, sinking to the floor and shutting his eyes as the pain set in. His bandmates were frozen, terrified. 

"I'd watch my tongue, if I were you." Dragaunus continued, an amused tone in his voice. "You see, I have no reason to keep any of you alive. When this is over, my henchmen and I will eat you. I only need one…"

The Saurian paused and looked over the band as a gray, musty fog began to creep out over the floor at his feet. The fog quickly thickened, rising and gathering into a tangible shape. Another Saurian rose from it, matching Dragaunus's piercing stare at the humans. "That one…" he spoke, pointing a gaunt claw at Russel.

"Me?" the drummer's voice was unusually weak. "What the hell…?"

"Then bring him." Dragaunus nodded, ignoring the man. "We'll deal with him separately."

"Pity we can't eat him too." Wraith pouted, slowly dissolving into smoke again and oozing to the floor.

"There is still time." Dragaunus nodded distantly, looking over the humans again. "You can have your pick of what's left. Except for the girl…" His grin turned sadistic as he caught Noodle's eyes. "She's mine."

Noodle understood enough of that to let out a frightened yelp. 

Russel growled, rising to his feet as well. He stopped short, though, when he saw the fog on the floor seeping into the cell itself, creeping over all of them.

"Perhaps we'll leave the dark one to Chameleon." Dragaunus continued, further ignoring the band's actions. "He seems a little stringy anyway."

Murdoc squinted a glare up at the Overlord, but could manage nothing further. 

Wraith materialized once again inside the cell, causing all around him to panic and shoot for the corners. "Come now, human." he pointed to Russel again.

The drummer backed up against the wall, keeping Noodle behind him. "I ain't goin' nowhere man. You let us out right now, before I give your old self a beatdown!"

Wraith rolled his beady eyes and let out a heavy sigh. "You humans." he muttered. He snapped a set of claws, and Russel's eyes suddenly rolled to match his. The man's body crumpled like a wet noodle, and he collapsed at the Saurian's feet. 

Noodle squealed in alarm, then suddenly went on the offensive and jumped out in front of Russel, jabbering angrily at Wraith.

The old Saurian was surprised at first, then amused. It was when she dared to reach out and try to pull his staff away that his expression changed to anger. Another snap of his fingers, and she fell unconscious beside her drummer. "Bleh, human germs!" he growled. Picking up his staff, Wraith muttered something under his breath, and the eyes on the skull of it glowed red. The same red light formed around Russel's body, as it levitated up into the air.

Dragaunus opened the rusty cell door, keeping a wary eye on the two remaining band members. As soon as Wraith and Russel were out, the door slammed shut again. "Don't bother in trying to escape." he waved at them nonchalantly. "None of you could comprehend what you've gotten yourselves into here."

The two Saurians towed the drummer out behind them, and left. 

In the cell, 2D and Murdoc waited, now squished together in a corner, hearing nothing but the strained hisses of Murdoc's breathing.

"Y—you okay ---Muds?---" 2D stammered after a few moments, not looking away from the hall.

The bassist shoved him roughly away before returning the good hand to his wounded shoulder and squinting his eyes shut again. "Get off me, face-ache--- and wake up the kid."

2D could barely keep his limbs locked, he was shaking so badly. He managed to crawl over to Noodle, and pull her up into his lap. "Noodle--- c'mon girl--- wake up…" he tried, leaning back against the wall. After a few seconds, the guitarist's eyes fluttered open, and she shot the vocalist a confused look.

"2D-san?" she started. Then things all came back to her in a flash, and she snapped upright. "Russel! Russel-san?!" she stood and ran for the bars, looking out into the hall to find him.

"Shhh!" 2D hissed, frightened. "Pipe down Noodle, Russ's gone, I dunno where---" The thought of what those lizards could be doing to the drummer at the moment quickly shut 2D up. 

Noodle calmed slowly, then looking back with a frightened and obviously unhappy glance. Her face changed slightly as she turned her eyes to the corner. "… Murdoc-san…?"

Murdoc squinted to see the guitarist picking her way carefully over to him, solemn curiosity in her face.

"S'okay Noodle---" he spoke gruffly. 

"Yeah Muds…" 2D joined in, turning to face him. "That guy shot you…"

"'ell yes, he shot me." the bassist glared poisonously back. "Doesn't hurt, just burns a lot---" he ventured to take the hand from over the wound and crane his neck to look at the line of charred flesh. "Didn't even really hit---"

"Wot's all this about, Murdoc?" 2D whispered. "Whadda they want with Russ?"

"How in the bloody 'ell do I know?" Murdoc growled, wincing again as he tried to move his arm. "That big one looked uglier than Satan 'imself…"

"Get Russel back?" Noodle blinked at him.

"Yer bloody welcome to try." the bassist sighed. "I'd like ta keep the rest of me arm. Don't look like there's much we can do, now." Unwilling to admit that he was in a good deal of pain, and just realizing what a mess the quartet was in, Murdoc leaned heavily back against the wall of the cell, hoping the heat from the rusty metal would ease the searing ache across his shoulder.

He came to slowly, slowly, his vision fading into focus from the center of his eyes outward. Russel's mind felt that he was just waking up from a long, peaceful nap. His body told him something very, very different. The drummer was suspended, tilted stomach-down, a few feet over the floor. He tried to move his arms, and found that they were braced back. Held up by chains, a pair of bars stretched between the manacles around his hands and feet, preventing him from moving. 

"Ahh, and he's awake." 

Russel's blood froze cold as he heard the voice, so close that it was nearly hissing in his ear. The drummer jerked his head to the side to see Wraith staring back at him.

"Good." Another familiar voice noted, from somewhere farther away. Dragaunus stood closer to the wall of the round room, watching expectantly.

"Forgive me my Lord." Wraith bowed weakly. "I did not expect the spell to work only when the host was conscious."

_Spell? Host?_ Confusion swirled in Russel's head. He wrenched in his chains and grit his teeth to the lizard. "You lemme outta here right now man, my attorney's gonna have a field day with you people!"

Wraith let an amused grin pass back to the human. "You're quite lucky." he nodded. "We would have killed the four of you without a thought, if you were just a normal human. But there's something special about you, isn't there?" he grinned. "Something which I can put to very good use. Now, you're going to tell me how to get it out."

"Do what now?" Russel frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about man, and I sure as hell ain't gonna cooperate."

"Another trademark of your idiotic species." the Saurian nonchalantly examined his claws. "Don't fret…" he spoke, raising his staff so that the skull that adorned it leveled with the drummer's milk-white eyes. The skull's empty orbits glowed a painful, piercing red. "I have my ways of getting what I want…"

Russel felt his vision cloud again, fogging over, and felt a bout of nausea wash over his body. As if he were underwater, his hearing was distorted. He could barely make out the Saurian before him emitting some grunt of frustration, and backing a few paces away. As he lowered his staff, the drummer felt his dizziness lift. "What the _hell_ was that?!" he whispered harshly.

"Wraith!" Dragaunus thundered, stalking towards and towering over his now shaking henchman. "Is this the extent of your spell?"

"He is resisting, M'Lord!" Wraith quaked. "I—I cannot break it!"

"Then we'll break him." Dragaunus snarled, beady yellow eyes locking onto the drummer's widened white ones. "Bring me the girl."

As Wraith exited quickly, Russel kicked, grunting as he struggled with everything he had. The chains merely flowed with him, negating his efforts, exhausting him shortly. "You leave her alone!" he threatened.

"Perhaps I will." Dragaunus sprouted a toothy grin. "If she gives me the answers that you are unwilling to provide. And if not? She will be an appetizer, to merely hold me over while I wait for my henchmen to finish with you…" The Saurian turned and began to slither his way out of the room, winding his tail along the floor behind him.

Fear rising in his gut, Russel again tried to struggle, pulling at the chains until his muscles burned and gave out. "You don't touch her, you hear? She's just a kid! You want me, don't you?"

"All in good time, human, all in good time." 

With that, the tip of the Saurian Overlord's tail slid into shadow as he stalked out into a corridor, and Russel lost sight of him. All he could do now was hang limply in his chains, alone in the open room.

The transmission was full of static at first, and the interference caught the ears of the Ducks in the Ready Room like feedback caught the ears of a concert crowd. Their eyes all darted to the massive screen of Drake 1 as the video feed started coming in.

"Tanya, where is that coming from?" Wildwing asked. But he got his answer sooner than Tanya could respond, as the feed cleared to reveal a very familiar death-stare.

"Dragaunus!" Mallory gasped angrily. "You've got a lot of nerve!"

The Overlord ignored them, walking away. It seemed the feed was not over his com, but from some sort of camera. The team watched as he cleared most of the screen, to reveal someone else in the room with him. He held little Noodle firmly around the shoulders with his left hand alone, talons pressing against her neck.

"What—what's the meaning of this!?" Wildwing demanded, shaking off the surprise at the sight. "You put her down this instant Dragaunus, if you hurt her---"

"Silence, miserable Duck." Dragaunus spat at him. "This pathetic human doesn't speak English. You translate, or she dies."

Nosedive turned to the dragoness at his ankles, whispering nervously. "Can you do that, girl?"

But Zelda had already advanced from behind him, staring down the Saurian Overlord. "You hurt her, and you'll get nothing."

"You'll translate or she dies!" Dragaunus emphasized his point by shaking the girl rather violently. A kicking Noodle narrowed her eyes and spat on the Overlord. Nosedive couldn't contain a burst of laughter, but it was soon cut and replaced by a frightened gasp as Dragaunus pressed his claws tighter to Noodle's neck, causing her eyes to glaze over. He released her only when she stopped struggling. 

Quickly trying to get a word in edgewise, Zelda loped towards the screen, trying to state something Japanese in a calming tone.

Noodle's eyes locked on the camera, recognizing her voice, and she started stammering loudly in reply. 

Eyes blazing angrily, Dragaunus shook her into submission again. "This is an interrogation, not a conversation, understood?!" he snarled. "Now, tell me!"

Locked under his powerful glare, Noodle withered, a broken stream of frightened Japanese finding its way out.

Zelda listened intently, frowning slightly in confusion, until the girl stopped and shut her eyes tight in defense.

"What did she say? What's the answer?!" Dragaunus demanded.

"She--- she doesn't know. She said she doesn't know how to call him, he just comes on his own…"

Dragaunus snarled angrily, glaring at the girl and shaking her again. "You waste of human flesh, you're lying! Tell me now or I'll eat you alive!"

Now truly frightened, Noodle squealed.

"She is telling the truth!" Zelda insisted. "She doesn't know! Maybe if I understood your question better---"

"Don't try that with me, dragon." the Overlord sneered. "You'll all find out soon enough." With footsteps that shook the camera, he stalked back towards the lens again, obscuring the frightened Noodle. "And by that time, it will be too late to save these worthless humans." With a callous swipe of his tail, Dragaunus sent the camera tumbling, and the transition faded to static when it hit the ground.

"Unbelievable!" Nosedive yelled, moments after the signal ended. "To a kid!"

"What on Puckworld did he want with her, Zelda?" Duke turned to ask her.

"I'm not sure…" the dragon replied, still in distress herself from the child's situation. "He never said the original question. But her answer was a pretty good translation, I think."

"This is very odd." Grin spoke, folding his arms. "What information would a mere child have, that Dragaunus would find so difficult to get on his own?"

"Maybe he thought it would be easiest to scare it out of her." Mallory shrugged.

"Whatever the reason, we have to figure out what that information is, and fast." Wildwing frowned. "That's the key to why Dragaunus kidnapped the band, they know something. Who is this 'he' she mentioned, Zelda?"

                "Apparently someone Dragaunus wants to get in touch with." Zelda replied. "She never mentioned his name."

                "So its someone the band knows… someone who contacts them." Tanya pondered aloud. "This is really weird, guys. Like, world's-greatest-detective type stuff."

                "Hey, Batman has nothing on us." Nosedive joked.

                "And with a stunt like this." Duke jabbed his thumb towards Drake 1's screen. "He's proving that he's getting desperate. He'll kill the kid, I got a hunch."

                "He won't get the time." Wildwing snorted. "Tanya, did you manage to get a lock on where that signal was originating from?"

                "It was a bit too short and grainy for me to get an exact location…" she started, seated at the supercomputer's console and typing quickly. "But I do have an area, about five square miles…"

                "Do a full range scan on that area, we'll have to get it narrowed down more if we're to find them in time."

                "Whoa, you were tracing the line that whole time?" Nosedive asked Tanya.

                "Standard procedure." the duck nodded, smiling in return to an obviously impressed Nosedive. "What's the use of this equipment if we don't use it when it counts?"

                "One thing's for sure, it counts now." Zelda noted. "Duke's hunch is right, Dragaunus knows it's only a matter of time before we find the Raptor. Whoever this person is that he's looking for, he'll get more and more desperate to find him. If the Gorillaz don't have answers, he'll dispose of them to avoid a fight with us."

                Grin shook his head and sighed heavily at the situation. "Let's hope the other three can buy themselves some time."

                The darkness was broken with a rusty squeal of metal, and something was thrown bodily against Murdoc as he leaned against the wall. Pain ruptured in his shoulder again, and the bassist let out a surprised grunt as the thing that had hit him moved, and yelled back in panic. He could recognize that high pitch anywhere. "Oi Noodle, it's me!" he snapped, shoving her roughly away with his wooden-heeled boot. "Bugger off!"

                The girl tumbled out onto the floor of the cell, looking back at the bars. For some reason, the strip of light that hung out in the hallway had burnt out. It fluttered to life for a few seconds, combining with the corridor's other lights in a lightning flash, revealing a skeleton form and a leathery face looming outside of the bars. The girl squealed again, gaining her feet and running until she hit something else in the cell's corner. 

                "Sniveling child." Wraith scolded. "Find your tongue only when you have the proper answers for Dragaunus, or you'll all die." And with that, he vanished, vaporizing in a puff of smoke and disappearing into mid air. 

                Noodle was squished against what she had run into in the corner, which was actually 2D. He had been just as rudely awakened as Murdoc, but opened his eyes to find the nightmare creature before him, and held himself silent as he was curled up against the walls. Now the girl had knocked his head into the metal wall, and the headache that he'd managed to keep stifled in the darkness blew into a full-fledged migraine. His arms untangled themselves to find the girl's shoulders in the dim light. "Easy girl!" he stammered.

                "2Dsan!" Noodle's voice was both joyful and relieved as she sprung into his lap and locked her arms around his neck. "2Dsan okay!"

                "Ark! Yes! Oi I'm awright Noodle!" he pried her carefully away, being quite happy himself in knowing that she hadn't been eaten! "What did 'ey do to ya girl?"

                "Mean Godzilla!" Noodle huffed, quickly regaining her bristling attitude. "Make Noodle mad!" she stood and put her hands around her throat, acting out for 2D what had  been done to her. 

                The singer could barely make out her stance, but saw enough. "Sheesh Muds, this is awful! Didja see Russ, girl?"

                "No Russel-sama." Noodle sighed. 

                "Bloody wonderful." came a grumbled reply from the distant wall of the cell. Murdoc shifted one knee up to brace his bad arm on as he gestured to the others, holding the other hand over his wounded shoulder. "This is just brilliant. And where are them Ducks? They seemed to know a lot about these 'ere pet shop rejects. Ain't they comin'?"

                In the darkness, 2D couldn't see the bassist, but there was an unfamiliar twinge he caught on his bandleader's smoked-out voice. Concern pushed him tighter into his corner, the pain radiating in his head. Noodle had left him, trotting over to Murdoc, who regarded her with slightly frowning eyes.

                "Go keep the Muppet from spacing out." he ordered.

                Noodle cocked her head for a moment, then scampered back and pushed herself up against 2D with a sigh.

                "Those Ducks'll come for us Muds, ya know." the singer offered with a scratchy voice. "They wouldn't just leave us alone in a place like this, would 'ey?"

                "Can it, dullard." came another rusty growl. "Wot makes you so sure 'ey know where we are? And if they do, they bloody well get over here, 'cause I don't wanna be leavin' in a body bag."

                Shuddering at the thought, 2D turned back to Noodle. "Wot did 'ey want with ya girl? Do they want somethin' from us?"

                Noodle shook her head simply, blinking her almond-shaped eyes in the darkness. "Wants Del."

To be continued…

Mighty Ducks-The Animated Series is property of the Walt Disney company. The Gorillaz are property of Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn, thank ya guys! All other characters are copyright of Zelda and The Dragon's Den.


	4. Part Four

Tomorrow Comes Today

Part 4

Written by Zelda

"I've got our range!" Tanya announced, a ring of happiness in her voice at the completion of her task.

                "Seriously?" Mallory came up behind her, looking at a tiny map on the Aerowing's console. "That was fast!"

                "Good thing I made those upgrades to our vehicle connection systems." Tanya nodded. "It's easier for the Aerowing to communicate with Drake 1, otherwise we'd still be back at the Pond instead of in the air! This is the closest I can hone in, this half a square mile area."

                "It's rural farmland." Duke remarked, also peeking over her shoulder. "How could Dragaunus be hiding there?"

                "We're about to find out." Wildwing nodded from the pilot's seat. "I'm altering our course now to target there, and we'll let the Mask to the rest of the work."

                "What's still bothering me is this guy Dragaunus is after." Nosedive spoke, sitting back in his seat. "I mean, why would a band have connections to someone this important?"

                "Beats me, but they do!" Duke started. "And we've probably seen weirder things, you know."

                "I'd believe it." Zelda sighed, musing over the matter herself. "I mean, with all of the strange enemies we've faced, that have been connected to Dragaunus in some way. The only thing they've had in common is that they were all dangerous. Sometimes I don't know how we managed to keep our other foot out of the grave…"

                "Grave…" Nosedive muttered in echo. "Wait a second, that's it!!!"

                "What's what?" Mallory asked him.

                "I can't believe we've been so stupid!" Nosedive smacked his forehead. "We forgot the one member of the band that Dragaunus doesn't have! There's this guy named Del, he's this ghost dude—"

                "A ghost?" Wildwing raised an eyebrow.

                "That's right!" Zelda snapped her claws. "How could we have forgotten?! Del does all of the rap for the group, he's a ghost that has partial possession of Russel's body!"

                "Can this situation get any weirder?" Mallory asked with a sigh.

                "Are you sure this is the guy Dragaunus wanted to talk to?" Tanya asked.

                "It makes sense." Zelda spoke. "I mean, he appears of his own will, so maybe that's what Noodle was talking about when she said she didn't know how to contact him."

                "But why would Dragaunus want to talk to a ghost?" Wildwing asked. "I suppose we're answering questions only to get more given to us. What a mess."

                "This is puzzling indeed." Grin shook his head.

                "How close are we to our target area?" Mallory asked.

                "ETA in five." Wildwing started. "I'm going to start scanning now…"

                "I'd give a negative on radar jamming or anything like that, Wing." Mallory suggested. "They're expecting us, right? If someone cuts off their radar systems, they'd know it was us."

                "And they might kill their hostages." Wildwing concluded. "I agree. Switching to stealth mode frequencies now, we're going to have to stay low and do small area sweeps until we flush them out…"

                "Why don't we have Batman on speed-dial, again?" Mallory asked rhetorically.

                "Heh, like I said before girl!" Nosedive snickered. "Ain't got nothing on us. Besides, you'd trip on his cape anyway."

                "Heads back in the game, Ducks." Wildwing ordered from the console. "And keep your eyes open for incoming fire. We don't want them surprising us, we want it the other way around." 

                To anyone else, the light would have brought relief. The one strip of faulty florescent lighting that hung outside the cell bars snapped back on again, filling the cell with light. 

Murdoc squinted his clashing eyes for a moment, paying the change in scenery little mind before dipping his head into his chest.

Noodle, who had spent a considerable amount of time trying to squeeze her way through the bars, squinted as well for a moment before she resumed her efforts. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't even get her head clean through.

But for 2D, the light was more than a mere distraction. He couldn't shut his eyelids in time, and the sudden shock of light instead of darkness seemed to punch two beams through his skull. He let out a stifled whimper and crumpled further into himself in an attempt to find the relative comfort of darkness again. But he had been too late, the pain in his head had already multiplied tenfold, and it felt like his head was going to burst. His hands came over his closed eyes, pressing into the sockets, squishing them back into his aching head. With the throbbing and echoing bounding about in his skull like a dozen rubber balls, he was barely making out things around him. Gritting his teeth, he forced the pain to fade like he had done so many times before, bringing it slowly back to a level where it was merely tolerable. Only then did he dare to open his eyes, shaded to the light. He found that Noodle had halted her efforts to get through the bars, and was now staring into the corridor.

"Mean Godzilla." she muttered quietly, pacing back towards the wall.

"Tell us somethin' we don't know, love." Murdoc growled sarcastically, lifting his head from his chest. Apparently he had been trying to get some sleep. "Stop tryin' to shove yer melon through the bars, ye'll get yerself tetanus from the bloody rust."

2D sighed inwardly, and started to search his pockets. He knew they were all empty, but maybe he had forgotten a stash of painkillers in one of them. He was disappointed to no end when he came up with nothing.

"Mean Godzilla." Noodle stated again, her tone turning insisting.

"Yes yes," Murdoc was now growing visibly annoyed, clenching the fist of his good hand. "We bloody well know they're mean!" He started up, gritting his teeth and hissing lowly at the pain in his shoulder.

"Mean Godzilla!" Noodle repeated, her voice rising to a near yell.

"Satan's sake, Noodle!" Murdoc nearly reared up this time in anger, snarling at her. "Keep yer bloody trap shut!"

"My goodness!" a strange voice interrupted, in a thick British accent. "All of this fuss for little old me?"

Three pairs of eyes darted into the shadows outside of the cell, and finally locked on a pair of orbs that returned their stare. They were ugly eyes, crossed in red. And revealing itself like a Cheshire cat, the eyes attached themselves to a very amused grin. Another lizard strolled out before the cell, but unlike the others this one was no taller or less skinny than Noodle.

"Wot the 'ell you think's so funny?" Murdoc spat. The bassist quickly lost his aggression though, and grew wide-eyed, as the spry green lizard suddenly stretched his neck and sprouted a powder-blue suit, a black cane and a top hat. He sipped casually from a cup of tea, and bit into the crumpet in his other hand.

"My dear boy, do try to be more civilized." he sniffed. "Really, I wouldn't expect such terrible manners from anyone other than the Yanks."

Murdoc was on his feet now, seething with anger, clenching his fists around the bars as he tried to yell at the Saurian. "You little flimsy pile of---"

"Ahh ahh ahh!" the lizard tisked, dropping his crumpet to pull a laser blaster from his pocket. "Don't make me blow your face off before I've had my tea."

With the barrel of the gun right in his face, Murdoc had no choice but to back away with a stunned look, sinking to the floor again once he'd reached the wall. 2D managed to coordinate his brain enough to get him standing as well, still squished into his corner of the cell.

"Gentlemen." the lizard dropped his accent and his outfit, morphing back to his original self. "You may address me as the Chameleon. And I'm here for the girl."

"Mean Godzilla!" Noodle yelled angrily.

"Don't sass me honey." Chameleon smiled. "I can be a lot worse than Godzilla."

"Wot do you wont with her?" Murdoc demanded.

"The boss is hungry." Chameleon shrugged. "Seems the fat one's having some trouble in doing what we ask of him, so the big guy figures giving him a front row seat to his supper would loosen the tongue, hehe. Come along, sweetheart…" Chameleon ambled over with a crooked gait to the cell door, rattling a ring of keys. 

Horrified and angered at the same time, Noodle drew a few steps back into the cell, realizing she had nowhere to go. She made a rush for the bars, trying to squeeze through again. With a few modifications to her earlier technique, she managed to get her entire body out, save for her head, which got hopelessly wedged between the bars. 

Chameleon nearly fell over laughing, holding his belly as he cackled and pointed.

2D suddenly pushed off of the wall and leapt forward, grabbing onto the MP3 helmet that was fastened securely around Noodle's head. With a pop, he pulled it off, and her head slipped easily through. She was now completely outside the cell.

Chameleon went from rollicking in laughter to stock silence, his jaw drooping open.

Noodle did a back-handspring out of sheer joy, snarling out an insulting stream of Japanese at the green lizard.

"H-hey you, you come back here this instant!" he stammered.

Noodle flipped backwards again, edging down the corridor in the opposite direction from which the Saurians had always come before. With another Japanese quip, she was off like a shot, quickly disappearing into the shadows.

"Hey! I said get back here!" Chameleon scrambled to grab his blaster, nearly dropping the keys, as he stumbled after her. He too, was off quickly, shouting slowly fading to echoes, and then to silence.

His hollow eyes wide, 2D approached the bars and tried to make things out down the hall. "She's gone, Muds." he started. "She got out!"

"Eh,  into wot, I wonder?" Murdoc grunted, unimpressed. "How many more reptiles they got runnin' around this zoo? Ya may have let her out the fryin' pan and into the fire, face-ache."

2D blinked, taking a long time to ponder that definite possibility, having the thought join hundreds that were kicking painfully around in his head. "Oi…" he spoke quietly, looping his arms through the bars and leaning against them. His eyes eventually wandered to his bandleader. Murdoc hadn't moved in Noodle's escape event, and now nodded his head against his chest again, eyes closed under his black flop of greasy hair. 2D's look turned to one of concern, rather than confusion. He had never seen his bandleader really sleep before. When he had, it was because he was passed out from drinking too much, or from getting clocked on the head when Russel had enough of his attitude. "Ya okay, Muds?"

The bassist glanced up to him sharply, glaring poisonously with his red left eye. "Will ya quit askin' me that, Muppet? I bloody ain't okay, I got a hole through me shoulder!"

2D backed off upon being scolded, folded his arms up again, and retreated back to his corner. "'Salright Muds." he started. "Mebbe Noodle'll find her way outta this mess. She'll get help, we'll be outta this."

"Heh." Murdoc smirked to the cell bars. "Mebbe."

The grass was high, that was good. "Single file!" Wildwing heard Mallory whisper sharply ahead of him, as she led the team through the tall grass. They were trying to sneak through the middle of a field of barley, snaking towards a stretch of fence where a tall oak tree was growing. Wildwing knew better than that. It was no oak tree, the Mask told him it was actually the Raptor. Dragaunus was getting better at disguising the ship, usually it would cloak itself as an object of comparable size and shape. The whole scene was starkly halcyon, with the setting sun behind the hills in the distance, the barley glowing in greens and golds. It would be pretty if they weren't in the middle of a serious situation. Due to the growing tension over the hostages, the team had agreed to land the Aerowing a ways off, hidden by a stand of trees on the other side of the field. The team had come bristling with weapons, and loaded like camels with ammo refills. Now they were going to have sneak in, get the band, and sneak back out. With four innocents on hand, combat was not a desirable option. Unfortunately, getting to the Raptor itself was the biggest problem of the moment.

"If they have motion sensors on…" Duke growled, directly behind him in line.

"Shhh!" Mallory hissed, and they all continued running, dodging through the grass. 

Duke had voiced Wildwing's concerns. The Saurians were looking, waiting for the Ducks to come and find them. Surely they'd have the ship secured, and they'd have the hostages under heavy guard as well. One slip, and they'd be killed. This mission would be a failure, and a fatal one at that. Wildwing wasn't sure he'd be able to handle the deaths of four innocent humans on his hands. Suddenly there was a sharp snort, and Zelda bounded up the line to his left, breaking formation.

"I smell water, there's an irrigation ditch to the left!" She pointed with a swing of her head.

"Let's take it!" Mallory signaled, and they all suddenly were funneling off to the side, running through the barley until their boots squished in the thin mud of a weedy ditch.

"Ewww…" Nosedive sighed.

"We'll have better cover here, and this runs pretty close to the ship." Mallory nodded, looking down the path that the grass bowed over. "Let's keep going!"

So they kept running, boots squish-squishing in time as the barley heads thwacked gently against their armor. Wildwing felt a chilling wave pass over his body, signaling that he'd gone through the Saurian's cloaking shield. A glance up, and there it was; the Raptor towering over them with a presence so strong that it nearly burned his eyes. "Duke, you take the front, get us to that ventilation duct!"

"Gotcha, fearless leader…" Duke squeezed by in the irrigation ditch, and jogged to the head of the line. There was a ventilation grating on the side of the Raptor's hull that he'd used to sneak in before, now it was simply a matter of finding it again. The grain parted before the team, and they had to skid to a stop before they nearly slammed into the ship itself.

"Whoa…" Nosedive wiped his forehead. "Why does this thing have to be so darn big?"

"Right here, guys." Duke whispered, waving them over. Standing on tiptoe, he was already wedging his saber into the grating of the vent.

"Allow me." Grin stepped in next to him, wedging his fingers in instead, and tearing the grating free with seemingly little effort.

"Good work, let's go before we're spotted." Wildwing gripped the edge of the opening and hoisted himself in, turning to help Tanya up before the two of them scooted off through the duct. It was small, the team scrunching up onto all fours and crawling through the dusty vents. Several of the team had to stifle sneezes. They passed by several branches, some opening to more grates.

"I hope you know where you're going in here." Mallory whispered ahead.

"Zel and I were through here once before." Duke nodded. "Keep going. This should take us pretty close to the cells."

"Shh---" Grin cut in, squished into the duct at the back of the line. The team halted in place, listening for a few seconds. But there was nothing.

"What was that, Grinster?" Nosedive turned around, getting his bill wedged between his shoulder and the duct wall.

"Shh!" Grin hissed. "Listen!"

Zelda's ears perked, hearing something too. Having the most mobility in the duct, she wormed her way around Mallory and into a side branch, peeking through a grate and out into a corridor. Finally, the team heard something, a short squeal. Zelda was sniffing out of the grate, and curled her lip up into a growl.

"Doesn't sound good." Wildwing nodded, before waving the team down that branch of the duct. Zelda let Duke squeeze by enough for him to wedge his sabre underneath the grate, and pry it free. One by one, they lowered themselves from the duct to the floor.

Nosedive stretched gratefully. "So what do you think that noise was?"

Before anyone could reply, they were distracted by a violent blur that whooshed towards them from down the hall, slamming fully into Zelda. She went tumbling back with a surprised yelp, only to find an equally surprised Noodle sitting on top of her.

"Zelda-san!" Noodle cheered, hugging the dragon around the neck.

"Noodle?!" she replied incredulously. "You got out? Where are the others?"

Noodle sprung to her feet and pointed behind her. "Godzilla! Mean Godzilla!"

"Launchers up guys, company's coming." Mallory interpreted.

"What the---?!" Another startled yelp sounded from down the corridor, coming from Chameleon, who had just stumbled onto the scene.

"Blitz him!" Wildwing ordered. "Don't let him get away!"

"Yeagh!" Chameleon turned tail and scrambled, running. Although the corridor was a bit too narrow for the team and tailing Noodle, they caught up to the Saurian very quickly. Mallory shot out a bola puck which roped the lizard's legs, and the chase was over. Chameleon scrambled with his hands, pulling himself along, until he felt the sole of Nosedive's boot plant into his curved back.

"Not so fast, short-stuff." Nosedive sneered. "Where do you think you're going?"

Flinging out a hand, Chameleon found his blaster, twisting his body around to get a shot up. He aimed too high, and the laser sailed over a few retreating heads. 

With a swipe of his sabre, Duke had the blaster in pieces on the floor. "Tell us where the others are, now!" he demanded. 

"Good luck finding them all in one piece, featherbrains!" Chameleon plugged his thumbs in his ears, and stuck out his tongue.

"That's it, you little---" Duke went in for the knockout punch, but the Saurian was faster. He clicked into his wrist com and faded into a glittering green shadow. Duke ended up punching the floor instead.

Peeking curiously from behind the shield of Zelda's wings, Noodle looked very confused. "Nani? No Godzilla?"

The danger past, the team turned back to her. Zelda switched to Japanese, speaking in a comforting tone, then a questioning one. Noodle turned and pointed down the corridor which she came, gesturing quickly. "I think she's saying that 2D and Murdoc are in a cell down that way. She doesn't know where Russel is, but she agrees that the Saurians want Del, not him."  
                "Which means they'll kill him eventually." Wildwing shook his head. "The kid can stick with us for now, we've really got to move. Chameleon will alert the others, they'll try to kill their hostages while they can!"

Grin reached down and bodily picked up the confused little girl, sitting her on his shoulder as the rest of the team took off ahead of him, running back down the corridor.

He blinked rapidly to clear his vision. How had he managed to fall asleep in this stinking hole? Then again, it wasn't really that much dirtier than his good old Winnie. How he missed that right now… There--- there was the sound again. A low thump, actually more of a thud. Murdoc blinked again and looked out into the cell. It was still lit, and as far as he could see there was nothing in the hallway. "'At you dullard?" he asked aloud. With no reply, Murdoc looked over to 2D in the corner, who was sleeping as well, crumpled like a Mesoamerican mummy and shielding his face with his thin fingers. "Hey!" Murdoc snarled, leaning up. "Wake up, face-ache, I asked you something!"

The singer jolted at that, hollow eyes opening wide. "Wot? Wot is it Muds?"

"Was it you makin' that noise?" his bandleader frowned.

"Wot noise? I don't fink it was me, I don't fink…" 2D started, then trailed off, wondering whether or not he could have done something in his sleep.

Both of them started as the sound came again, a heavy thud, some distance away. It came again, and again, now increasing in frequency and getting louder. 2D crunched up tighter against the wall as he started to feel vibrations in the floor.

Murdoc frowned, unhappy. "Like friggin' 'Jurassic Park', it is…" he grumbled. 

A low chuckle replied to him from outside the cell, as the thudding got louder. "Heh!" a gravelly voice sneered. "My great grandpa's nothin' compared to me." Siege loomed into view, a laser blaster tipped over his shoulder. "Sorry boys, it's chow time."

"Wot 'er you blabbing about?" Murdoc growled.

"Your little girl was an idiot, that's what." Siege grinned. "Lord Dragaunus no longer has any use for you, but _I _can still have a little fun."

Murdoc was pushing himself to his feet slowly. "Wot 'id you do to her?"  
                Siege casually produced a set of keys from a leather pouch in his belt, and went to unlock the cell door. "I think you should be more worried about what I'm going to do to _you_." The Saurian stepped into the cell, blocking the door with his massive frame, and raised his gun before slamming the door shut with his tail.

Murdoc warily inched backwards along the wall, eventually bumping into 2D.

"Where do you plan on running to?" Siege laughed. "This is gonna be like shooting fish in a barrel. Shame you're so skinny…"

"Hold it right there Siege!" A voice called from behind the orange lizard.

The Saurian spun and nearly had his jaw drop when he was faced with a barrage of launchers from outside the cell. "Here already?" he complained. "You're too late Ducks, they're as good as dead!"

"Open fire!" Wildwing ordered, and suddenly the room flared in blue as pucks hailed into the cell, ricocheting off of the walls.

Murdoc dropped to the floor, dragging a seemingly frozen 2D down with him, watching as Siege whirled around above him, the perfect example of a proverbial bull in a china shop. The Saurian had turned to face the Ducks, trying to keep his head covered for protection. While he fired back with his blaster, his tail was swatting around the cell, clanging into the walls, looking for something soft to hit.

"Duke, get that door open!" Tanya started, opting for her Omnitool's wrist laser instead of her launcher to try and snipe the blaster out of Siege's hands. 

Duke left the protection of Wildwing's ice shield, which he had stopped firing to raise, and regarded the door for a moment. "No time for finesse." he sighed, bringing out his sabre and starting to hack away at the metal bars. Within moments, the frame was sheared through and the door fell to the metal floor with a very loud clang. Distracted by the noise, Siege then howled as he felt his blaster get ripped from his hands. Now, Duke and Grin entered the cell, pinning Siege back into one corner as the two humans kept as still as they could in another. 

"Looks like you're the fish now, Siege." Mallory sneered. "And you're a fat one too."

"Stupid Ducks." Siege grumbled. With a whack to his wrist com, he started to disappear. Expecting that he'd pull such a stunt, the rest of the team opened fire on him, but none of the shots connected with his com, and he vanished.

"Again?!" Nosedive snorted. "I hate those teleporters, I really do."

"Murdoc-san! 2D-sama!" Noodle burst through the clutter of Ducks to jump into the cell, and tackle 2D once again. "Okay!" she celebrated.

"Ow!" 2D protested gently. "We're awright girl!"

"Speak for yourself." Murdoc grumbled, holding his shoulder and wishing he hadn't gotten so banged around in the fight. "It's about time you birds bloody showed up, look what they did to me!"

"What now, bro?" Nosedive asked. "There's too many to take along, and we've still gotta find Russel!"

"Zelda, get them back to the Aerowing." Wildwing nodded. "Do you think you'll be okay alone?"

"You'll need as many as you can to get Russel out." Zelda agreed, sliding into the cell herself. "I'll sneak them out, don't worry."

"Good. Tanya, leave a med kit for her. Extra arms too. We're off." Wildwing turned on his heels and led the charge further down the corridor, quickly disappearing out of sight. 

Zelda picked up the med kit in her jaws and hopped over, quickly glancing over Murdoc and 2D for obvious wounds. "Are you two okay?"

"Didn't I just bloody answer 'at question?" Murdoc snarled.

"Calm down, you don't look like it's too serious." Zelda opened the kit with a gentle smile. "Let me see your arm…" She took it gingerly and pulled some of his burned shirt away, causing another angry snarl from the black-haired bassist. 

"Watch wot yer doin'!" he ordered. "Don't you 'ave a doctor or something?"

"You're looking at her, for now." she replied. "You'll be fine, it's just a surface burn…" Zelda brought out some gauze pads and antiseptic-soaked cloth. "This  might sting a little…"

"Hells no." Murdoc refused, level-eyed.

"The more time we waste here, the less chance we have of getting out of this alive. Give me your arm." 

Grudgingly, Murdoc let her pull his wounded arm across his chest, hissing loudly as she pressed a cloth to the burn.

2D and Noodle watched quietly. Any time they had seen a member of the band injured, it was one of the other members that was responsible. This was a new situation, and both of them clearly didn't like it.

"Russel-sama?" Noodle asked.

"He'll be awright Noodle, I fink…" 2D answered, reaching over to give her the MP3 helmet she left behind when she had escaped the cell. 

The girl squealed happily as she clapped it down on her head, and Zelda smiled lightly as she wrapped the bassist's thin shoulder in gauze. "She seems no worse for the wear. What about you 2D?"

The singer leaned up slowly, shaking his head. "Another migraine, I always get 'em…" He started fumbling through his pockets again, only remembering halfway through that they had been empty before.

"Let's see…" Zelda was rummaging through the med kit. "Codeine good? We have a few of those…"

"Better than nothin'." 2D nodded, catching a couple of pills that Zelda tossed over to him. He clomped them down, gulping a few times to get them down his throat, without any water on hand.  

"Don't you worry," Zelda spoke. "The guys will do their best, you can be sure, to get Russel out. Now our focus is getting _you_ out…" As she closed the med kit, she reached behind it and pulled out two spare pucklaunchers the team had left. "One for you…" she slid one across the floor to 2D. "And one for you." She put the other in Murdoc's lap.

"Wha…." 2D fumbled with his. "I dunno how to shoot…"

"Let's hope you don't need to learn, then." the dragon nodded solemnly. "From here on out, we stay quiet. Keep close to me and I'll find you a good exit. If we get into a scrum, don't run off. Getting lost in here is what gets you in trouble…"

"Come on Noodle…" 2D unfurled to his feet, gripping the launcher handle tight. 

Murdoc rocked back up on his heels, grunted at the gun, and shuffled off after the dragon.  "Dun think this little pea-shooter is supposed ta stop 'em." he muttered. "And whatta we do after this? Ya got any spare hockey sticks ta whack em with?"

"You're going to criticize your rescuers?" Zelda smirked back at him, humored by his attitude. "Stay behind me, you'll be back in your Winne in no time." With a quick glance out into the hall, Zelda bounded out of the cell, three humans following close behind.

Wraith scowled at the limp figure before him. Humans were horribly lazy. With the pointed end of his staff, the Saurian jabbed the human roughly in the side of the head. 

"Ow!" there was a low mumble from the man's bowed head.

"Good, you're awake." Wraith grinned, before he turned away from Russel and to the onlooking Dragaunus. "That is all I need, M'Lord."

"Go ahead then." Dragaunus nodded, stepping back a few paces.

"You have resisted all of my attempts before…" he started, not amused. "But this time shall be different."

Russel raised his head to meet a pair of hollow eye sockets, in the duck skull impaled on the top of Wraith's staff. His reaction of blatant surprise changed into a look of fear as the eyes began to glow red. "What do you think you're doing?!" he asked, struggling freshly.

"What you would not agree to let us." Wraith replied absently. He had closed his eyes in concentration, and now faded into low mumbling, none of his words decipherable. Slowly, a low red glow started to surround Russel's body. The surprised man struggled at first, but fell slack slowly, as if he were growing increasingly tired. Finally, his head slouched down, and his body hung limp again.

"What was all that about?" Dragaunus frowned. "I thought you said that you needed him awake."

"I did." Wraith replied, a little irritably. "For this." He banged the point of his staff on the floor, and suddenly the human's frame jolted stiff, his eyes wide open and two beams of white light shooting from them. The light seemed to fill the room like a flash of electricity, disappearing again with a snap. When it did, the human hung limp again. But there was another source of light, an ethereal blue glow that surrounded a lump lying next to Russel on the floor. Slowly it unfurled itself to reveal a human form, wearing a white t-shirt, a yellow baseball cap, and a gold chain.

"Well well well." Dragaunus smirked, a look of satisfaction on his face. "We finally get to meet our little guest."

"Man--- who hadda wake me up like dat?" the ghost grumbled unhappily. He stretched and yawned, finally taking the opportunity to look around, and reacting with obvious surprise. "Whoa, who changed the digs around here?"

"Ghost." Dragaunus ordered, striding up to face him. "Stand and address your new Overlord."

"Say what?" The blue form shook himself, and swerved up to stand. "Who are you, and who are you?" He glanced over to Wraith and cringed. "And what did you do to him?!" His voice gained concern and anger as he spotted Russel.

"Nothing, yet." Dragaunus started. "As long as you obey my commands, your host will not be harmed."

"You ain't doin' nothin' to him man." the ghost backed away with a defiant shake of his dreadlocks. "I dunno who the hell you think you are, but you're messing with big things here."

"Not too big." Dragaunus spoke confidently. "You, spirit, will be my connection to the world of the undead. You will act as my messenger, and you will organize and mobilize an army of undead, at my will, to attack---"

"Whoa, hold up a minute there." the ghost interrupted. "You do realize I can't just magically do all of this stuff, kay man? Who do you think I am?"

"You'll be someone searching for a new host body, in a few moments." Dragaunus spoke. Unblinkingly, he raised his wrist and pointed the laser gun mounted on it straight at Russel's head. 

The ghost seethed, his frame snapping to static with his growing anger. But there was another sound in the room, a loud yell that seemed to echo in from the corridor.

"Dragaunus!" it called, sounding just as angry as Del looked.

"Wonderful." Wraith growled. "I thought our guests would have been taken care of by now."

"Think again, tall, dark, and ugly!" Nosedive growled as the team of six Ducks stormed into the room. "Looks like we're here to crash the party!"

"I don't think so." Dragaunus hissed, pressing the point of his laser blaster right to the unconscious Russel's forehead. "Take a step closer, and he dies."

At this, the mood changed dramatically, and the Ducks halted in a scramble. They assembled themselves in a flank, blocking the Saurians from escaping down the corridor, presenting a mass of arms and shielding to the lizards.

"Turn the human over, Dragaunus." Wildwing warned, from behind his shield. "You had no right to involve them in this!"

"I'll crush anyone I need to, duck, to wrest control of this planet." the Overlord replied angrily. "In a way, I'm glad you're here. You're about to witness a new chapter in our war, you filthy, worthless birds. You're full of quips about justice and morality, but I bet your peabrains will be quite perplexed by how to stop an endless army of the undead. Imagine it, ducks. Imagine the hoards I'll have control over, countless hundreds of millions of them, all unable to be defeated, unable to be killed! You are powerless to stop me, now."

"Sunk so low as to try and enslave _ghosts_, Lizard Lips?" Nosedive shot right back. "You think a bunch of zombies or draculas or whatever is gonna help you take over a whole planet? You got another thing coming!"

"Heh." came a low chuckle from the ghost. The Ducks were a little startled, as if they had suddenly noticed that the spirit was there for the first time. Arms crossed, and a rather sour look on his face, Del shook his head at the entire room. "Shame on y'all." he scolded. "Yer both underestimating me. You wanted a ghost, you overgrown anole? You got one!" His eyes blazing white with anger, Del suddenly shot outwards and upwards, his body expanding until the arch of his back was pressed against the chamber ceiling! One of his broad blue arms proceeded to squash Wraith and Dragaunus against a wall.

"Wraith!" the Overlord gargled. "Contain him!"

"We must---attack the human---!" Wraith sputtered, his throat squeezed back.

"Oh no you don't." Wildwing growled. "Let's cut him down and book, guys!"

The team scuttled over to the center of the room, not taking their crosshairs off of the two Saurians. However, they seemed to be more than occupied with the huge blue ghost breathing down their necks. With a few slashes of Duke's sabre, Russel's limbs were freed from the cables one by one, and he was lowered to the ground.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Del asked over a glowing shoulder.

"Looks alright to me." Tanya nodded. "Just unconscious. We'll get him out of here."

"Sounds good to me sister." the ghost smirked. "And I'll look after these two---" Del was alarmed to turn and find his captives had disappeared! "How'd they do that, man?!"

"They can teleport!" Nosedive yelled over to him. "Which means we gotta get out of here now. If Draggy gets to the control room he'll have this place flooded out with drones in no time!"

Grin hefted Russel up over one shoulder, and joined the rest of the team as they ran back out of the corridor, heading for the nearest exit they could remember in this towering maze. Del floated out closely behind, keeping one eye over his shoulder the entire way.

Zelda used a claw to slice the piece of tape away from the roll, pressing it neatly down to finish off the more formal bandage she'd applied to Murdoc's burned shoulder.

The bassist frowned at how close those claws were to his face, growling as she hopped back to the floor. "You wanna watch them things next time? Yer gonna take someone's eye out, little lizard."

"You keep yourself from getting shot, and there won't  be a next time." Zelda smiled back at him. She was beginning to understand why Noodle seemed to put up with Murdoc's antics so well. The self-appointed leader of the band was not about to let on that he knew he was over his head in a situation like this. He'd stay just as aggressive and grating as ever, to keep his bandmates under control. It was almost amusing, in a sense. But nothing was very amusing now. She left Murdoc in one of the passenger seats of the Aerowing, turning back towards the open hatch, where 2D was sitting and watching the field.

"So where was that ship we was in?" he scratched his head.

"It's cloaked, nobody can see it except for Wildwing." Zelda pointed to the oak tree, looking quite far in the distance now. She couldn't believe they had made it all the way back, with Murdoc complaining and 2D stumbling dizzily from the combination of migraine and medication. But now at least the humans could catch some rest. "That's it out there."

"Cor…" 2D breathed, frowning. "Where are the others?"

"They're coming." Zelda nodded, her own brows knitting slightly. She had decided not to call them over the com. If they were sneaking up on the Saurians to free Russel, a transmission like that would blow their cover for sure.

"Yer worried about 'em, aren't ya?" 2D started quietly.

Zelda nodded, her eyes scanning the field. "Just as worried as you are about Russel, I bet. Try not to let it get to you. We've had to rescue each other countless times from that deathtrap. It's never easy, but---"

                The dragon was cut off by a violent explosion that suddenly appeared over the field. It was strangely one-sided, as if it were being reflected in a mirror. In fact, the other half was covered by the Raptor's cloaking device, invisible to the outside world. The two sitting at the hatch nearly jumped, startled. Murdoc and Noodle stood as well, looking out through the Aerowing's windshield.

                "Wot in the blazes wos 'at?" Murdoc started.

                "Stay in the ship." Zelda ordered. "And keep your launchers close, you'll be safe here!" She hit a panel next to the hatch, causing it to start closing. She flew out before it did, flapping low through the trees, and out onto the open field. The smell of burning grain was strong. Somewhere, her Ducks were in that mess. With a loud roar, she plunged into the smoke blowing out over the field. The wind was carrying the plume away from the ship, which would help hide the team below from the Raptor's sniping lasers. But more explosions thundered nearby, which meant that the Saurians were still shooting anyway! Tilting her wings and pumping fast, she launched out of the acrid smoke, into the clear air. Passing through the cold wave of the Raptor's cloaking field, she swirled up around the ship, hoping to at least distract them and get them to shoot for her instead. Now she could risk communication, but her com crackled before she could reach it.

                "Can we go home please?!" Nosedive wailed.

                "Where's the ship in all of this smoke?" Duke coughed.

                "Ducks! I can't see you below the cloud, if you can see the sun the Aerowing is fifty degrees to the south!" Zelda called back, swooping over a streaking laser beam.

                "That you girl?!" Tanya yelled, her com crackling with static. "You get out with the others okay?"

                "They're waiting in the ship---" Zelda cut herself off to spiral around another blast, the world twisting around beneath her. She was too close to the ship, she couldn't dodge well enough at this distance.

                "I've got you on the Autotracker Zel…" Wildwing coughed through the smoke. "Break off, you're in too close! Find Grin, he's got Russel…"

                "Got that!" Zelda folded her wings and plunged down into the smoke.

                Mallory had to stop listening to the com chatter as she suddenly slammed into something. Knocked off balance in all of the smoke, she rolled in the barley and landed with a squish in the muddy base of an irrigation ditch. There was a thudding nearby, and something landed on top of her with a yelp. She recognized the sound instantly.

                "Gah, Nosedive, you moron! Get offa me!"

                "Hey, _you_ ran into me." Nosedive rolled up, pulling Mallory after him. 

                "No, you ran into _me_!" Mallory snorted. "Any idea where the others are?"

                "Haven't seen 'em---" Nosedive started coughing.

                "This isn't good." Mallory started, crouching low into the ditch to get some fresher air. "Dragaunus knows he can't pick us off in all of this smoke, it's only a matter of time before he sends out reinforcements. Come on!" She grabbed his wrist and hauled him off into the grain. "If we can find the sun…"

                "Don't stare too long, it'll end up being a laser blast with our luck!" Nosedive pulled even with her, his launcher drawn. Suddenly, he stopped short as he slammed into something again, tumbling to the ground and feeling the grass buckle beneath him. "Yeesh Mal, I told you to watch where you're go—" He was cut off as he realized he'd hit something hard and cold. A pneumonic hissing sounded as something turned, staring at him with a single burning red eye.

                "Duck!" Mallory ordered, suddenly behind him and shooting. The aggressor went up with a squeal of metal and a plume of sparks. Mallory watched as Nosedive stood, opening her com again. "We've gotta regroup guys, the drones are out!"

                "Try to run ahead of the smoke!" Tanya replied, coughing. "Even the Autotrackers are having trouble in this stuff!"

                "We've got company girl!" Nosedive called Mallory back to the fight, waving and pointing to a line of drones advancing before them. "They're trying to push us back to the ship!"

                "Let 'em try." Mallory growled, pulling a second launcher from a holster in her back. "We brought all of these pucks along, why not use 'em?" 

                Staying close through the smoke, the pair charged.

                Grin gritted his teeth as he saw the drones approaching. Fighting in this sort of situation was far from wise. He needed one, preferably two hands to secure Russel on his shoulder. Breathing in this acrid smoke surely wasn't healthy for either of them. Thank DuCaine he had Tanya near him, shooting down anything that moved and wore a red metal coat. Everything was terribly confusing in the smoke. The sinking sun hit it at an angle that turned everything a burning red color. They could have been running around in circles, for all they knew.

                "We've---gotta get outta here!---" Tanya yelled to him, hacking and wheezing in the cloud. "They're too many--- Dragaunus isn't just gonna let us get away!"

                "Which way is the ship?"

                "Keep behind me---!" Tanya ordered, waving him through the smoke. She stopped short, however, as a broad shape cut through the smog directly in front of her, nearly clipping her bill. She started in shock, but quickly recognized the color, and watched as the shape spun and cut back, sinking through the smoke until Zelda's body followed it. The dragon folded her wings quickly as she landed, bellowed, and charged a group of oncoming drones. 

                "This way!" she called out behind her. "I'll draw them, you get back to the Aerowing!"

                Tanya fell back to Grin's side, loading another clip into her launcher as the two ran, watching as they passed Zelda by. The dragon let out a plume of fire to touch off a larger explosion, sending a cloud of new smoke up and drone parts flying everywhere. She reemerged behind them, coughing loudly, galloping along and zig-zagging to flank the pair. Finally, after it seemed that they had run for miles across the field, Tanya made out the shadows of tall trees through the smoke. They were approaching the patch of forest that they'd landed the Aerowing behind. As she dodged to avoid bumping into the rough trunks, the hull of the Aerowing suddenly came into view.

                "Come on Grin, I'll open the hatch!" Tanya popped open the lid to a number panel on the ship's side, tapped in a code, and watched as the front ramp slid down. Tanya watched vigilantly as Grin climbed aboard, then turned back to look for Zelda. She spotted the dragon's silhouette on the edge of the treeline, where it raised a wing to wave Tanya back into the ship. Not waiting further, Tanya ran up the ramp herself, closing it behind her to keep out the smoke. Exhausted and out of breath, she flopped into the nearest chair, coughing raggedly. In the background, she could hear the little Noodle yelping out in panic, trying to get Russel to wake up.

                "It's alright---" Grin assured her, coughing himself. "He's okay, just asleep." He had lain the drummer down on a cot in the cargo area, towards the back, and Noodle was fussing over the both of them.

                "He bloody well better be alright!" Murdoc had swiveled the chair he was sitting in to get a better look. "It's like World War III out there!"

                "Where's the rest of ya?" 2D started, standing nervously against a wall. 

                "Still out there…" Tanya breathed, staring through the clouded windshield for a moment before she raised her com. "Alright guys, Grin and I are back in the Aerowing. Try and regroup in the forest, we'll fly out for backup and then pick you up in three minutes!"

                "Sounds good!---" A crackled response from Wildwing came back to her. "Watch the Raptor, they're still firing!"

                Tanya hopped into the pilot's seat, while Grin walked up and buckled up as the copilot. He turned to the others and nodded grimly. "I suggest you use your safety belts."

                2D shot into an empty seat, fumbling with the belts. But Tanya didn't wait to take off, and the ship was already rising above the treeline, shooting forward with a kick of the thrusters. "Some backup we're going to be…" Tanya grumbled. "When we can't even see underneath the smoke… Grin, switch us over to infrared view…"

                A minute of tapping at a keyboard and flipping switches, and suddenly the windshield of the Aerowing glowed red, white and orange shapes coming to life across it.

                "There we go…" Tanya started. "Anything looking organized and traveling in a unit, we blow out of the field, starting with this bunch." She got hold of a joystick to aim her crosshairs into a line of advancing drones, and used a rapid-fire laser cannon to reduce them to blobs of shooting heat and debris.

                "You're fine." Grin spoke, double-checking his com's autotracker. "They're almost all to the forest by now."

                A sudden blast of white hot light streaked dangerously close. "The Raptor's locked onto us!" Tanya swerved quickly away from the lines of advancing drones. "I think it's time for an early pickup…" She steered the ship back to the trees, lowering the Aerowing as close to the ground as she could without actually landing. With the push of a button, the front ramp lowered, letting wisping smoke into the ship. Through it, five figures came stumbling on board, all sounding like they were coughing up their lungs. Tanya unbuckled herself from the pilot's chair as she recognized Wildwing's gloved hand on the backrest.

                "Nice pickup…" he sneezed, setting himself down and closing the hatch. "We are out of here."

                "Just like that?" Murdoc frowned from the back. "Yer just gonna run? Ya got a pretty nice bird here, why not shoot 'em lizards down?"

                "Because we've got innocents on board." Mallory turned back to him. "You guys were never supposed to be involved in this. Any other day, we'd be in the thick of this fight. But we're not gonna risk you, we're getting you out."

                More lasers slashed around the ship as it lifted back up into the sky, high enough to get clear of the smoke. Below them, the field lay in ruins, the Raptor shrouded.

                "There's gonna be one angry farmer out here tomorrow with no clue…" Nosedive smirked, as he felt the Aerowing's engines rumble with energy beneath him, and the ship shot off for the southern horizon.

To be continued…

Mighty Ducks-The Animated Series, including all logos and characters (except mine) are copyright and property of Disney. The Gorillaz are property of Jamie Hewlett, Damon Albarn, and Parlaphone Records. You may copy, print, or whatever with this document, so long as it is not altered and I (Zelda) am credited. Thanks!__


	5. Part Five Epilouge

Tomorrow Comes Today

Part 5: Epilogue

Written by Zelda

                He gratefully lifted the last few microphone stands off of his good shoulder, hearing them clink metallically in the back of the van. Leave it to the setup guys to forget stuff like that! Here he was, riskin' his neck just to play, and now he had to do the dirty work that went along with it. At least his shoulder didn't hurt so much anymore.

                "That the last of it, Muds?" a voice called to him.

                The bassist growled, and ducked his head around the open back door to see Russel plodding towards him.

                "Yeah 'at's the last of it. You think you coulda lent a hand there, sleepy'ead?"

                "Oh, of course, _my_ fault for being knocked unconscious by some old crocodile." Russel rolled his white eyes.

                "Whatever." Murdoc grumbled. "I just wanna get the 'ell outta here before them things come back." He stepped away from the van and slammed the doors shut. "Can't believe they forgot the mic stands. If any of them things scratch up my bass…"

                Russel turned away from the ranting Murdoc with a sigh. Maybe things were back to normal. He started to backtrack across the empty parking lot, coming back towards one of the Pond's glass archways. Beneath it, he could make out 2D's and Noodle's silhouettes, along with the jumbled shadows of the assembled Ducks team. "Come on guys!" he called to them. "We'd better get movin' or we'll be late for the next show!"

                "Can't we take a break Russ?" 2D looked over with a sigh. "I still gots an awful 'eadache…"

                "Sorry D, we already missed the show in Denver." Russel shook his head. "People are gonna get mad, you know."

                "Awright, awright…" the singer shook himself, straightening his back. "Guess this is goodbye, eh?"

                "Guess so." Wildwing nodded to him. "You guys take care of yourselves, don't be afraid to give us a call if you see anything suspicious tracking you."

                "We wish we could come along!" Dive started, grinning. "For the music, heh, if nothing else. But we got a schedule to keep too."

                "I don't think you'll have much to worry about." Tanya started. "They usually lie low for some time after an attack like that, let themselves recover."

                "Speaking of which…" Zelda hopped up onto Russel's broad shoulder. "You sure you're feeling alright?"

                "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine!" he shooed her away with a smile. "Got things reorganized up here." he pointed to his head. "By the way, Del says thanks. I personally think he's a big whimp, duckin' out on the fight while you guys were runnin' me back to your ship."

                "Things turned out quite well, regardless." Grin nodded sagely. "I do believe it is we who owe him thanks, for holding things up back in the Raptor."

                Nosedive was about to speak up, but got interrupted as a bundle of red kimono and an MP3 helmet leapt up into his arms and hugged him around the neck.

                "Arigato, Nosedive-san!" Noodle cheered.

                The duck couldn't help but laugh and hug her back. "You're welcome, I think, hehe. You are too cute, you know that?"

                "Come on girl, we 'ave ta go." 2D held out his hand, which Noodle took once she'd jumped back to the ground. "We'll visit again, mebbe! This was certainly an… um… interesting place to play, I fink."

                "Understatement of the year." Russel grinned. "Thanks again guys, we'll be seein' y'all around."

                "Have a good trip!" Mallory waved to them, as the three musicians started back across the parking lot for the van. The team watched as they all piled in. Even above the engine, they could hear Murdoc continuing to grumble as the van pulled out of the parking lot, and onto the highway.

                "Well, there they go." Duke sighed, shaking his head. "Was this the oddest stunt Draggy's pulled yet or what?"

                "I'll have to agree on that one." Tanya nodded. "Ghosts, sheesh!"

                "At least Dragaunus learned his lesson." Zelda smirked. "I think he'll leave matters of the occult to Wraith from now on."

                "Well." Wildwing started. "They've got a show, we've got a game. Come on guys, I wanna talk strategy before the guys come in here to set the ice up for tonight." He waved the team back inside, and one by one they filtered back through the doors of the Pond.

The End

Mighty Ducks-The Animated Series, including all logos and characters (except mine) are copyright and property of Disney. Gorillaz are property of Jamie Hewlett, Damon Albarn, and Parlaphone Records. You may copy, print, or whatever with this document, so long as it is not altered and I (Zelda) am credited. Thanks!__


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